#touring recording pasta shopping

[autistme]

every time i see james dunes-ing my mind immediately does this

[be-ready-when-i-say-go]

Hi there...I understand you're taking requests 👀. Could I please get an Ashton Irwin x reader friends to lovers? Maybe he confesses his feelings to reader who feels the same but doesn't think they should be together because he has to go on tour (distance). But they end up together with some smut. I hope you can write this one, if not I understand. Thanks so much 😊

Hi, thanks for dropping a request. I hope you enjoy it doesn't get steamy, if I'm honest. I hope that's okay. If it's a problem, please let me know!

Requests are open briefly until the 24th. Any NSFW content (smut, etc) must be requested off anon to ensure no minors (those 17 and below) are requesting the content.

Feel free to look through my masterlist for more. You can submit a request through my asks.

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It’s a tradition, one that you’d personally be damned in trying to pinpoint when it had grown into such. But lack of clarity on its inception doesn’t undermine the tradition that brings you here, two nights before the tour sitting across from Ashton. He’s giggling at his own story, napkin clutched into one of his hands. Your cheeks hurt from how much you’ve been smiling and laughing at it as well. You and Ashton are always here two nights before any tour with dinner. Whether he cooks, or you cook, or you eat out--it doesn’t matter. The two of you make sure to set time aside for each other regardless. 

“I’m so serious,” Ashton giggles. “Guy straight up offered fifty bucks for the t-shirt I was literally wearing. Right off my back.”

“The real question,” you start, setting your bottle down after your sip, “is did you actually give this rando your shirt off your back for fifty bucks?”

Ashton’s smile changes, the bright honey curve of his lips morphs into something softer and more mischievous. “I got a good lunch afterwards though.”

“Ashton!” you scold, tufts of laughter bubbling from your chest. You know the possibility always exists with Ashton. It would be hard to imagine that he wouldn’t do something just for the story of it. 

“I didn’t take the cash! But he treated me to lunch, since I did sort of give him the shirt off my back.”

“You didn’t sort of do anything,” you huff, finishing off the last pieces of your food. Ashton’s plate sits with just another bite or two of the pasta. Somehow the food’s gone faster than you two have even calculated for, but that won’t stop you. With the settling evening, Ashton’s backyard is a comfortable solace, a nice place to rest for a little. 

“Guilty as charged,” Ashton returns. He scrapes up the last of his food as the conversation lulls for a moment. He watches though, the way you stare up and behind him, like your mind’s taken you to places behind the court of his house. “But how’s work? For you?” 

You’d asked Ashton how his life was going and it sent him spiraling. He can go a mile a minute but he’s never far from always checking in on you. You shrug at Ashton’s question. Your life has fallen a little mundane though your work is anything but. 

You’d fallen into Ashton’s world when he frequented the record shop you worked out in the last year of your master’s program. You needed the cash on the side. Though the days were long between school, work, and homework, you found a little slice of quiet in that shop. It was a local gem, hidden in the debris of a crumbling shopping center. But locals knew the record shop well and would take the hike to unearth the treasure. 

Ashton was one of those locals. He spotted you as you placed prices on new arrivals and asked if anything specific came in worth looking for. You shrugged in response, but lifted out some limited edition vinyls with a yawn. You’re not sure what joke you made specifically, but it was enough. Ashton laughed like his life depended on it and more and more he came into the shop. You two exchanged names, then numbers, growing closer and closer as time passed. In just a year, you could tell that Ashton was going to be someone important in your life. You’d never imagine the scale, and still can’t. But you told yourself even if Ashton was there for a season it would be spring and bring forth all sorts of new life. 

Now, you’re four and half years into your friendship and it still grows and grows. You’ve left the record shop, settling into talent management and running in leagues adjacent to Ashton’s. It’s not the most glamorous job on the planet, but it pays the bills. The only downside to the field is that drama from others becomes your drama just by association. You have to get in the dirt sometimes as much as you definitely didn’t want to. And Ashton knows how much you dislike some of the aspects of your job. 

“Is that a shrug that means same old, same old? Or is that a shrug that means big shit?” Ashton questions. “I’d hazard a guess closer to the latter.”

“You win another year of friendship,” you laugh, finally focusing your gaze back on Ashton. His honey eyes are melting with concern as he gazes up at you. It makes your stomach flutter and you hate the feeling. Hate that the two of you were always dancing. 

“I wasn’t worried for a second about that. You’re stuck with me. It’s in the contract.”

“I signed no such thing,” you tease. “I need to see that one.”

“It’s written in invisible ink,” Ashton snorts. “But seriously, what’s wrong? Do you want to talk about it?”

“It’s just a mess.” You’re not supposed to get into specifics, but it’s never once stopped you when it came to Ashton. “It’s sensitive information really and not something I want to spread around even if it’s to safe ears.”

Ashton nods. “I’m sure you see and hear a lot of shit.” He knows you’re working specifically with someone up and coming. They’re young and if Ashton knows anything from his younger years, it’s that trouble comes with freedom and excitement. Some mistakes though just need to be learned the hard way. So Ashton assumes it’s something big for you to even keep it quiet. 

“Too much shit. We’re talking with lawyers,” you divulge. 

Ashton whistles. He’s no stranger to lawyers but he knows that when they get into the mix it gets messy fast. But they aren’t there for no reason, no little reason that is. “Fuck. Is this like…criminal?”

You shake your head. “It’s technically a civil matter but it could easily get criminal with my client’s hothead.”

“You’ve mentioned that before,” Ashton comments. Once before the two of you were catching up over lunch and your phone rang. Not the first time Ashton’s been inside a police station but it is the first time he’s been in one where he thought a crime might happen right next to an officer. To say he thought you could spit fire that day is not eloquent enough for your rage. “Well, I hope it doesn't get criminal. I know it’s gotta be a nightmare for you though. You’ve only been working with them for what? 6 months?”

“Eight,” you correct, “but it’s not long enough to be dealing with lawyers on a first name basis.”

Ashton reclines into his seat, arms folded over his chest. You rest your cheek against the flat of your knuckles, elbows resting on the table. Though you’re smiling, Ashton knows just how unamused you are at the situation. “How long have you been dealing with this situation?”

“Two months? Maybe a little less, but like we’re about to get the two month mark.”

“God damn.” 

You can only nod, a hum leaving your throat. “Yeah, but that’s boring and a buzzkill.” 

Ashton doesn’t miss the way you spin the bottle of alcohol free beer in a circle. He laughs but nods. “Fine, fine. Want another?”

“No, no, I’m good. You excited for this tour?” Ashton hadn’t talked it about in the same way he had the others. He adored what he was doing. He spoke passionately about the tour. But you were fuzzy on some details. Normally, he was brimming with every twist and turn the tour had. He’d trip over himself to tell you. You hate to think it was somehow a sign--that maybe Ashton’s retracting. 

Ashton’s nod is fast and hard. You watch him, eyes dropping from you to the green glass bottle in his hands. “I’m very excited. But I don’t want to spoil it,” he offers. It’s soft and you think that the words are somehow going to crumble onto his lap. 

“What do you mean spoil it?” you question. You don’t want to start pointing fingers and claiming that he’s not telling you things like before. You don’t want Ashton to go onto the defense. 

“I-it’s so silly,” he laughs. 

“No, I’m sure it’s not silly,” you offer. 

“But it is. I just-I kind of want you just to see it without me telling you anything about it beforehand. I know I normally tell you everything but this time I just want this to be a surprise.”

“Want me to go in blind, Irwin? Trying to give me a heart attack? I’m supposed to have insider knowledge, you know?”

He smiles again. For that, you’re grateful. “No, you do. I’m sure you have more than enough insider knowledge. I just--” His words fall short. He loves telling you everything. God, Ashton loves sharing his world with you. It makes him smile to see you smile. He wants to be there, when he can be, for you. When he can’t be, he wants to know that he’s still one of the first people you call even through the distance. And he does know it. When you got offered a position with the management company, you called Ashton mere minutes after the email came through. When Ashton nailed a drumline, he’d ensure you got to hear the initial take or two. 

But there’s something different about this--he wants to watch you when everything comes unraveled. It’s unlike anything else they’ve done. He wants the show to keep some of its magic. That and he wants to keep an excuse to see you again. You visit during the hometown shown normally and you still plan to this time. But he’s hoping to convince you to visit at least one other show too. Because no two shows are exactly alike. 

“Are you sure you can only make it to the LA show?” Ashton questions, finally looking up at you. 

You pause, nails picking at the label and the label scrunches just a little with your work. “I might be in Dallas too.”

“Really? You mean that, no bullshit?”

You shrug, your own lips failing to hold back your smile. Ashton catches on though and pushes up in his seat. His plate scratches over the top of the table as his forearms move it to the side. Your skin warms. It’s not embarrassment, it’s not even fear or shyness. You just feel alive in a way that only Ashton seems to make possible. You hold up your hands to slow his roll before it’s begun. “I’m supposed to be working the night before but I extended my stay by a couple days.”

“I’ll take it. I’ll take it easily.” Ashton reaches for your hands. Your palms are softer to the touch and it’s not lost on Ashton how the hairs on his arm stand up at your touch--electric in ways that he’s sure he can’t be alone in. When he looks up through his lashes, your gaze is dropped down to your intertwined fingers. Your fingers stroke gently over the top of his hands, over his knuckles. 

“You’re such a sap,” you tease softly. 

“I’ll have you know that I don’t care,” Ashton hums. His bones are melting at your touch. 

“You all packed up yet?” Ashton’s not necessarily a last minute packer, but he does occasionally cut it down to the wire. More than one of your pre-tour dinners has ended with Ashton needing to pack up his suitcase. It almost feels like it wouldn’t be a tradition without that fact. 

Ashton shakes his head, tracing the veins on the top of your hands now. It’s a dance, your hands trading who leads and who waits. “Stylist got the show outfits last week. Everything else is sitting around the suitcase waiting for your magic touch.”

“Oh, c’mon,” you laugh. “You taught me how to pack!”

“And I must say I may be one heck of a teacher, but I swear I almost miss something without you.” He pouts at you, lower lip rolling out. 

You roll your eyes but tap at Ashton’s forearms. “You clean up the dishes and get me another beer and I’ll get started.” You’d cooked over at Ashton’s place. Your apartment doesn't have the appropriate kitchen space and you hate how cramped it can feel, so Ashton offered up his place. 

Ashton squeezes at your forearms in response, “Thank you. Dishes will be squeaky clean.” 

It’s all the two of you need before you push away from the table, plates and bottles in hand, and carry on back inside of the house. The floors are cool against your feet and the house echoes in a way that lets you know all is silent. Ashton most often keeps music playing, saying it makes the place feel lived in. You’re not sure how it can’t feel lived in. Ashton’s couch is covered in blankets, walls lined with plaques and photographs. The living room is a bit echoey as it opens up into the kitchen more directly, but there’s plenty of life, if anyone was to ask you.

You set your dishes on the counter next to the sink, listening to the click of the ceramic meeting the marble. “One of these days you’re going to have to pack yourself,” you tease. 

Ashton closes the door to the fridge with his hip, holding two bottles in hand. “Don’t you dare say that. You’ll always be my pack checker.” He wants to say more, wants to say the reason you’ll always be there is because you’ll be with him. Forever might be a scary concept, but he wants to see what that could look like with you. Though if Ashton puts anything more than friends out there and you shoot him down, it’ll shatter him. 

He’d recover, he knows. But it’s selfish. He’d rather not have to lose you or hurt himself like that. 

“Hmm, my tax might get higher,” you tease, sliding the bottle opener off the counter. 

“I’d pay it in a heartbeat,” Ashton huffs. And as the two of you get closer, you reaching for the bottle, Ashton wishes he’d just be more direct. He really ought too. He wants to tell you but also worries that it might break everything. 

You work loose the top to both bottles. “That’s a lot of game, Irwin. Let’s see if you can back it up.” 

“Promise, I can.”

Only a hum leaves your throat before your sip pauses you. “I’ll be upstairs packing your suitcase.”

“Thank you!” he calls out as you push towards the stairs. 

“Yeah, yeah, just pay up, Irwin.”

Ashton watches your exit, the stairs taking you further and further from sight. It feels like it’s bubbling up his chest. All the words he’s held onto for years. But if he’s going to be honest, this might be the most selfish thing he’s going to embark on.

You sigh as you enter Ashton’s bedroom. His closet door is open, suitcase splayed on the floor. Inside of the case, you can see his toiletry bag, clothes stacked neatly inside and a couple pairs of shoes on the floor outside the cas. You assume this is all the stuff he’s taking with him on tour. It’s a scene you're familiar with, having grown fond of the ritual as well.

You can’t shake the soft echo of Ashton’s voice earlier, I’ll take it. 

It’s eating away at your tongue. What will Ashton take? It certainly couldn’t be just one extra show you’d catch. It certainly wasn’t that. But there was something desperate and earnest in his voice. You think it might mean more. You want it to mean more. The crush on Ashton started slow, so slow you almost can’t pinpoint when it surfaced. But you know it had surfaced. 

You longed for his touch and when he was around, you felt like everything made sense. Even if it didn’t actually make sense, there’s a sense of comfort in his presence that slows your racing mind. You don’t have butterflies, but it’s a warm feeling buzzing beneath your skin. A kind of calm that cuts through the noise. 

Ashton could have his pick of whomever. It’s a fact made possible by his occupation and his good looks help too. Yet, you’ve noticed a decreasing lack of conversation surrounding relationships. You weren’t sure if he was looking less for them or if he was just keeping that information from you out of respect. You never hated that he talked about other women. You’d sort of grown accustomed to that topic, having talked Ashton off many ledges about love in the midst of drama, familial trauma with relationships, and his own stubbornness. 

You’re not less of a suspect about the topic either. You stopped talking so much about your own love life with Ashton as well. Part of it due to its slow death. With work and your crush on Ashton you sort of resigned yourself to a state of limbo--temporarily at least. You know you can’t linger on this crush and unknown forever. But you hadn’t been so bold as to bring it up before. 

Perhaps, it was time to breach that line again. 

The clack of Ashton’s slippers on his floors lets you know he’s moving up the stairs and closer to the bedroom. You keep your focus on the tuck of his jeans into the bottom of the suitcase. Your heart races though, the closer and closer Ashton gets. 

Would you really bring up this conversation now? Two days before tour? It was beyond shitty timing. Yet, opportunity feels like it’s slipping through your fingers if you don’t make a move now. Like if you don’t say something now you won’t say something ever. You’ll resign yourself to swallowing back down everything you’ve been brewing over in the ten minutes you’ve had apart from Ashton. 

“What’s the diagnosis, doc?” Ashton teases, slipping out of his house shoes. His descent beside you on the floor is a little slow and he groans just a hair as he gets down. 

“Bad knees,” you return with a laugh, taking a shirt from the pile to fold and roll. 

“You’re a fucking comedian,” Ashton huffs. He takes another one of his shirts and is acutely aware that he should probably handle his undergarments to spare you. 

It falls quiet around the two of you. You’re focused now on folding, rolling, tucking into luggage. You run your fingers over the items. “Got enough bottoms? I’m not sure how often you’ll be near a washer and dryer.”

“We find ways,” Ashton laughs. “Also I’m counting the pants I’m wearing on the first flight,  so yeah, I’m good.”

“PJ’s?”

“A couple sets to swap out,” Ashton answers, lifting up to display some shorts and t-shirts beneath his normal attire. 

“Space for souvenirs?”

Ashton laughs. “Take me for a rookie, baby?”

“I don’t know, maybe.” It falls quiet again. The scruff’s grown thicker and now might be enough to constitute a beard. “Going to let the beard grow out or shave it?”

Ashton shrugs. “I’ve got some shaving stuff packed just in case I choose otherwise. It’ll only need a couple days to grow back,” he laughs. 

Now, as the two of you lock gazes, you see something swimming in Ashton’s eyes. His brows are pulled together. “Everything okay?” you ask. Though the two of you are separated by a suitcase, you still inch closer. 

“Can-can I ask you something?”

You nod. “Anything.” And it’s so easy to say that. Because you mean it. Ashton can ask you anything and you’ll answer it. But you’re not even thinking what that might mean to someone else until Ashton’s stumbling over his own words. A man normally so confident, worrying his lips over and over with his teeth. 

“I just--I know we’ve been friends for a while and with the tour coming up so soon, I’m not sure this is even fair to ask now.” Ashton pauses. He wants to take the knot of your brows as rejection but he watches for a moment longer and the pieces are clicking. Your eyes narrow, then widen like the bulb might’ve just gone off even before he’s gotten all the words out. “I don’t-I don’t want to ruin anything! I just need to ask.”

The possibility you hadn’t fully wanted to let yourself consider seems to be crash landing into your lip. If you’d conjured up this moment, you were afraid that you’d give it too much weight and care about it a bit too much. You worried that if you did open the door it would slam close, so you let yourself just think, but never dream. 

“Ashton, I’m going to ask this because I just need it explicit. What are you asking?”

A beat. Then two. 

Ashton moves the suitcase top up and over to shut the half packed suitcase close. He moves closer to you, taking your hands. “I want to ask if I should ask for a romantic relationship with you if the answer might be yes? I-I know we have a lot to work out and I’m gone for 4 months in two days. But, god, I had to ask. I have to ask.”

There’s a lot of unknowns. It’s jumping off the deep end. But the things you do know is that you and Ashton have had years. That surely had to count for something. “It-it could be.” The words make your own teeth chatter for a second. Your guts hurt at the thought that you might even be inching closer to something. 

Ashton’s palm is large--it swallows your cheek as he brings your face up closer. Your foreheads brush and you can smell the garlic from your food and the subsequent mint you’re sure Ashton snuck on the way up here. 

His smile radiates over his entire face. You can feel the heat of it ghosting over your face and you smile too. “It could be?”

“It could be. I like you. A lot. You make me feel safe. But you’re leaving so soon and I don’t know if right now I can say anything definitely.”

Ashton’s lips brush over the tip of your nose. “I know. I’m sorry I didn’t ask anything sooner. But please know I’m happy at the possibility. We’ll talk. I promise.”

As Ashton draws back, you surge forward, locking him in with a hand on the back of his neck. Ashton had asked but still you need the words. “Promise me we’ll talk at least weekly while you’re on tour? Promise me that there’s a possibility back?”

“I promise there’s a possibility. I mean, more than that too. But it’s--it’s not something you just waltz into. We’ll talk. Weekly at the absolutely least.”

Ashton swears his chest is going to burst when you kiss the tip of his nose. His fingers curl and he wants to do nothing more than to take your waist into his hands, kiss you until his lungs burn. But he won’t do that. The two of you had only promised an exploration, something to talk about more in depth, nothing full fledged. Ashton can’t lie that he doesn’t take that promise to bed like treasure. He can’t lie that he doesn’t lets it bury into his chest. He can’t lie that his dreams don’t water that hope. 

He can’t lie that when he wakes to a text from you, Take care of yourself today, with a red heart instead of the pink ones that something ike joy, or maybe just a stronger hope, blossoms.

Your phone shakes and you pull the glasses off your face with a huff. You’d been buried into your laptop trying to read over the headlines about your client and you already know it’s going to be a mess, yet this is all you have just a mess. 

Ashton’s name greets you on the screen and your bubble of frustration shrinks. “Long time, no see, stranger,” you tease, taking in the shaky and choppy picture of Ashton. 

“Hey, stranger,” he teases. You can tell by the way his hair sticks to his forehead he’s recently either gotten down with a show. “What’s it like on the west coast?” he asks. 

“Sunny and on the verge of collapse.”

“Verge of collapse? Your client?” Ashton questions. 

“Isn’t it always? I’ll figure it out, I know. Just buried right now in tabloid bullshit. How was the show over there? How’s the east coast?”

“It’s a little cloudy. Heard some stuff about potential hurricanes. I’ll be glad to be further west next week.”

You nod, scotting down a little in your chair. “This time of year is hurricane season. Must be an active year though if you’re catching wind of it.”

“Our tour manager said the same thing. We’ll be getting out just in the knick of time. Just worried about the folks who live out here. Hurricanes don’t sound fun.”

You shake your head. “Mother Nature is always to be feared--fires to hurricanes.”

“Ain’t that the truth.”

“How are the shows though?” you ask, knowing that you may not get all the time you want with Ashton on the phone so you try to get the best of it you can. 

“They’re fucking phenomenal. Amazing. Not quite the same as when you’re around, but they’re going really well.”

“And you’re taking care of yourself? If I ever get another text from you about being in a fucking hospital, I swear to God.”

Ashton laughs, a kind of laugh that you know is a bit uncomfortable, but he’s hearing you. “No, no, you won’t. Promise.”

“Good, I do not need a repeat.”

“No repeats. But question, is one of your dream dates still to get dressed up to go visit a museum?”

You give a pause, trying to assess with the somewhat clear picture of Ashton on your phone. You know you’d briefly mentioned it once, maybe twice. But you didn’t think it was enough for Ashton to still carry around the knowledge. You nod though at the question. “It is.”

“Why’d you say it like that? Are you getting suspicious of me?” Ashton teases. 

“Maybe just a little. Can I ask why you’re asking?”

“If you must know,” Ashton starts, accent morphing into an almost decent English accent, “I am attempting to court you. Dates are a part of such activities.”

Your laughter falls easily, cheeks heating at the thought. “You do not have to say it like that,” you huff with a smile. “Is your dream date still a picnic and painting?”

“And if it is?” Ashton questions, a bit of a tease lilting his voice. 

“Then I’m buying paints, good sir. As simple as that.”

“I can’t argue with that. Okay, two good things about your day? Yeah?” It’s a thing--whenever you talk to Ashton now you two share two good things about your day. It’s a nice way to break up the conversation, spin the frustration of the day into something positive. You recline into the cushion of your couch contemplating your day. After you share the good things you ask Ashton about his. Of course he mentions the show. 

Conversation winds through dreams--literal and things about that you want out of life. It’s nice to just let the conversation go where it wants. Ashton mentions being inspired on tour for new scents for his candle company and you let that take you to conversations about the smells of your childhood home. Ashton teases that he’ll have to make that another scent. When you ask about the smells of Ashton’s childhood, you notice he gets a little quiet. It’s a slow answer and when it comes, you listen to all the weight he gives the words. 

“Mum--she did the best she could you know. I think if I had to describe the smell of my childhood home it’d be a bit of vanilla, grass because god the house was always brimming with our ruckus.”

“Grass after it rains is a nice smell,” you offer after Ashton’s bout of silence. “We don’t have to push it. I appreciate you sharing what you did.”

“No, no, I don’t mind. Just hard sometimes.”

“I get it. It can be hard sometimes. But I appreciate you listening. It means a lot, you know? That you’re willing to let me work through it at my own pace.”

“Life’s hard enough,” you concede. “No need for me to make it harder.”

“But we have Dallas to look forward too.”

You nod. “Yes, we do have Dallas. I’m excited.”

“Good, me too.” Voices echo from further down and Ashton bids his goodbyes, sad and quiet but you ensure to send a message as follow up, I’m here, when you need to call or text or vent. Got plenty of space. You attach a picture of your bed you splayed across the queen sized mattress. 

Ashton’s response comes about twenty minutes later, God, that looks comfy as hell. Thank you. A red heart is attached too. 

Ashton’s not one to freak--he’s done plenty of it on his own and knows it’ll get him nowhere. But the night before the Dallas show, his phone shakes. Your name lights up across the screen. He thinks it’s just about tomorrow. Maybe an inner monologue about you trying to decide what to wear. But when the message starts with, I’m so sorry, Ashton knows it’s bad. 

He doesn't even read the full thing, pushes back from the bar counter and presses to call your number. It rings, and rings, and rings in his ear. “Please pick up,” he mutters to himself. 

“Hi, I’m sorry I can’t answer the phone right now. Please leave a message with your name and number and I’ll be sure to return your call,” your voicemail greets Ashton. 

He listens for the beep before speaking, “Hey, it’s me, Ashton. I-I admittedly only read like two percent of your text, but I wanted to call, to see if everything is okay. Please give me a call back when you can. Please. I’m worried.”

There’s so much more to say but Ashton can’t get his tongue to cooperate so he leaves it at that and hangs up. Pushing the hair off his forehead with one hand, Ashton swipes back to your text. I’m so sorry about this. Currently at the ER and will probably be on crutches tomorrow thanks to an ill placed step on some gravel. I’ll be sure to update you and call as soon as I know for certain. 

You’re hurt, but not terribly so and that’s a win. It’s not enough to quiet the thunder of Ashton’s heart. What had you done? Where had you been? He can only think to type out, Which hospital are you at? Are you going to be okay?

“Hey, Ash, everything alright?” Calum asks. His voice is soft as his question falls. Ashton’s not sure how he even catches Calum speaking if he’s honest, even as he gives a head shake no to the question. “What happened?”

“Just-I need them to text me back. Figure out how far the hospital is from here. I can think then.”

“Yeah, of course. But it sounds bad? Who’s hurt? When you get the name, I’ll see how quick we can get an Uber.”

Panic does no one any good, but Ashton’s not going to talk himself off the ledge of panic when it comes to you. He waits and waits and Calum waits with him, finally getting the pieces of your text in relation to a potential fall. The two men hover in the lobby of the hotel, drinks long forgotten by now. Though Ashton felt the waning of adrenaline leaving his body from the show just a couple hours before, he feels wired. He watches and watches his screen for it to only come alive by the shake of his hands. 

I’m sure you just got done with the houston show and would probably prefer some rest. It’s a pretty bad sprain, I’ll be okay, reads the text after a long 45 minutes. 

His fingers shake and he nearly can’t get a steady enough press to dial your number. The phone rings--once, then twice. Your voice is the sweetest sound he could ever hear as it floats in through the receiver, “Hi, Ashton. I’m sorry to give you such a scare, I know.”

“You’re okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m okay. Nasty fall. Really bad sprain. It’ll be annoying for the next couple of days. But I’m not dead.”

“Which hospital are you at?”

“Uh, Baylor something or another. I’m getting discharged now actually. I thought I’d be able to call after the initial run of test but they diagnosed it fast. And a lot sort of happened before I could get my hands on the phone again.”

“It’s okay. I’m just glad you’re okay. Do you have someone that can get you back to your hotel safely?” He needs that answer to be yes. He’s not sure where you are though and that’s the thing that’s killing him. Ashton does have the name of the hotel you’re staying at, as you shared your itinerary with him earlier in the week to see if you’d be at the same hotel. Your hotel is about 10 minutes or so from his. Happenstance you both knew but right now it feels like a godsend. 

“Yeah, yeah, I’ve got someone that can drive me.”

“I’m going to meet you there okay?” You start to protest but Ashton’s quicker. “I know you probably don’t need me. But please, just let me get eyes on you so I know you’re not going to keel over, okay?”

You sigh. “Fine, Irwin. But you better be there before me.”

A smile lifts his cheeks. “I will be. Promise.”

“Are they at Baylor University still? I got the address,” Calum offers when Ashton hangs up. “And yes, yes I was eavesdropping,” he laughs at the pull of Ashton’s brow.

Though Ashton won’t admit this, he’s glad for Calum’s care. “Nah, no, they’re about to head back to their hotel. Getting discharged now. I’m-I’m going to go there and I’ll meet up with you guys for the truck in the afternoon before it leaves for the venue.”

“Sounds good. Keep us updated though? Should anything else happen?”

“Of course, man. Of course.”

Ashton’s quick back to his room to grab his bags. They’re not many, thankfully. All the while he tracks his drivers approach on his phone as he waits at the elevator door. It’s a slow descent, or at least it feels that way but the doors open and Ashton’s back into the lobby. Just as his feet hit the concrete of the sidewalk a car eases to a stop. 

“Picking up for Ashton?” the driver asks through the passenger side window. 

It’s a quick ride and Ashton thanks the driver before climbing back out into the thick humid Texas air. It’s heavy on his skin but all Ashton continues to think about is getting into that lobby before you. The glass doors are heavy but they reveal a mostly quiet lobby. No one at the front desk and he settles off to the side. Ashton halfway considers calling you to see how far you are, but before the thought can blossom anymore than a hair, the doors open again. 

Someone holds open the door and there’s a click and clack that’s distinctly hollow. “Thanks,” you state, working the crutches up and forward. 

Not what Ashton expected but you’re whole--together, in front of him. A wrap on your left ankle. “You’re late,” Ashton huffs, a faux annoyance. But it’s all you need to grin. The ache in his ribs eases. 

“I’m moving a little slower than normal.” The two of you meet in the middle, or maybe less than that as Ashton does cover more ground than you. But it’s not like you care. Though you are mindful that you are still sort of on the clock. And Ashton catches on too, when you don’t lean in for a hug or more. 

“Do-do you have any bags you need me to carry?” he asks. 

“Personal effects,” you tease, throwing a look over to Savannah who’s got your shoe in a plastic bag from the hospital. You take the moment though to introduce the small group you’re with--mostly other staff on the team. “Everyone, Ashton,” you conclude with a nod of your head. It’s a quick conversation to ensure you’re all okay and set to go. Once you confirm that you’re good and that Ashton won’t let you do anything to further hurt yourself, the group slowly thins. 

You and Ashton remain as the others move towards either the hotel bar or the elevators. You wait, trying to ensure that the group is gone before you sigh, shoulders rounding with the action. “I hope your heart will be able to withstand the show tomorrow,” you tease. 

“Oh, quit it. I’m not that old.”

“I don’t know you told you were old anyway.”

“Oh, society says it everyday. Aren’t you listening?:

“Absolutely the fuck not,” you laugh. 

Ashton’s glad to hear the sound. “Yeah, I thought you might say that, let’s get you to your room yeah.”

It’s a hobble, still unsteady on the crutches a little but thankfully once you’re inside the elevator, you know it’s a quick walk to your room. Ashton retrieves the keycard from your wallet for you and holds the door open. The room is cool--like all hotel rooms seem to be as they surely must double for freezers with the temperatures they are set at. But it’s clear that maybe you hadn’t been planning to be out--your laptop’s still on the bed. Your bag rest on the lounge chair open, clothes peeking out from the depths of it. 

Ashton drops his bag next to yours. 

“So what happened?” he asks. 

“We got back around 8 or so, a much too early night if I’m honest. So, I did a little work to pass the time. Then around 9 Devin, the stylist, asks if I want to go out and grab a couple drinks. I say yes, we’re sort of bar hopping to find the right vibe. I had like two drinks max at the bars we’d found. But on the way to another bar, coming down off the sidewalk, I just misjudged the distance or something. All I know is that I was up one minute then I was down.”

Ashton’s gentle as he kneels, taking a quiet moment to inspect your foot. “You ought to be elevating it,” he offers. 

“I sort of want to change, but I need to shower too. And that’s just awkward all the way around,” you laugh. “Haven’t even taken me on a date yet and I’m already on the verge of having to ask you to help me undress because of my stupid ankle.”

“They don’t mean that,” Ashton directs to your injured joint. “And I am working on that date, you just need to give me a few months.” Though Ashton hopes he can do it sooner. Though with this injury he’s not sure if his plans of stealing you away one day during the break will pan out still. 

You know you should be responding. Ashton’s gazing up at you from practically between your legs as if waiting for an instruction, but you’re too caught up in the way his face holds his beard, honey eyes dripping still as they look at you. “You’re handsome, anyone ever tell you that?”

“Some might say you just did.”

“Well, you are,” you return more confident. “You’re very handsome.” Maybe it’s just easier now. You can freely admit to such attraction because you know the possibility exist that you and Ashton have more. You know the tour is just a temporary thing, but it gives you two something to work from. Rather than just the comfort of ease and accessibility, you and Ashton have to make conscious efforts to communicate while he’s away. The discomfort makes you work. It reminds you that nothing worth having has always been easy. 

Your fingers trace the line of Ashton’s jaw, from the bottom of his ear to his chin. Feels like his body is melting but he remains frozen, kneeling on the thin carpeted floor of this hotel room. It’s a sort of limbo that if Ashton were to ever work through a metaphor, he might call it the seconds in a summer blaze with ice cream. You know the ice cream won’t stay solid forever, but in the first few moments, everything is as it always will be. The ice cream will still have a shape and the sun will still have a ray, but those paths had not crossed just yet--not long enough to have an effect. Yet, Ashton knows that while he holds still now, while he waits to see if you say or do something more, he is the sun ray. He will cause an effect. 

“You, however, sweetheart, are so incredibly dangerous,” Ashton whispers. 

“I haven’t done anything.”

“Besides absolutely wiping out and being a danger to your literal self, I do have to say that you are dangerous because if you keep scratching at my beard like this you are going to open a whole new can of worms that we will not be able to get back inside.”

You know it’s a warning. You don’t think you want to heed it though. “Just a kiss?” you ask. 

Will it ever be just a kiss, Ashton does not know. “You speak of me undressing you to shower and change and rest your ankle that is still injured by the way, and ask for just a kiss?”

You nod. “Yeah, just a kiss.”

Ashton pushes up, hand capturing your cheek as his lips capture yours. Your lips taste a bit sour, maybe the drink or two you’d mentioned before. But Ashton thinks he could swallow the taste and tattoo it into his lungs. He would tattoo it into his lungs if such a thing were possible. 

You swear you’ve never been held in such a more confident and gentle way as Ashton pulls up closer into your body. His hands find your waist, a grip that pushes into the flesh of you that makes you whimper. It’s a pathetic sound and you can’t help but laugh at yourself, interrupting the kiss. Your kiss ends with an echoing pant between the two of you, nose to nose as you hold his face between your palms. 

“You can make fun of me for that later, understand?” you huff. 

Ashton’s laughter falls out more like a groan when you brush your hands down his chest. “I don’t really think I have ground to talk, so.” Ashton presses another kiss, lighter, but still long against your lips. “I just--I’m a little ill prepared to go any further tonight.”

“Are you, Ashton Irwin, rockstar and drummer for the hottest band, 5 Seconds of Summer, telling me that you do not have condoms?” you snort. 

“It may be that. In all fairness, the spare I had I had to end up passing along to a couple of the other guys so, it’s not that I didn’t have them.”

“You just don’t have anymore,” you conclude for him. 

“Exactly.”

“No worries. My spare expired, so same boat. Besides, I did ask only for a kiss.”

“That you surely did. And I think this is our last stop on this train lest we decide to risk it tonight.”

You giggle, fingers playing just a little at the hair at the nape of Ashton’s neck. “I think this is my stop anyway.” 

“Can I ask for one more kiss though?” Ashton’s grin is small and sheepish, like he knows he’s asking for something he shouldn’t. But you can’t say no as you capture his lips one last time. It’s softer now, rather than holding for fear of life lost, now you know you can taste and taste without worrying about losing your chance. 

Though it should be awkward to get yourself changed and cleaned up, you find that it’s easy. Undoubtedly, it’s intimate to have Ashton help you get your pants on and off, but it’s easy to laugh and converse around your work. By the time you’re both settled in for the night, your leg slightly elevated thanks to some of the spare pillows, the blue hue of the TV screen is just an accent to you and Ashton’s laughter, 

“You had to have a crush on at least one cartoon character,” you huff. 

“No, I’m normal.”

“Ashton, you are anything but normal. So just fess up. Was it Lola Bunny?”

Ashton laughs. “No, it was not Lola Bunny. Who even is that?”

You ignore Ashton’s question and pry for an answer listing Roxanne from A Goofy Movie as another potential. It gets shot down immediately. “C’mon, Irwin! Just give me an answer.”

Your response is only Ashton pressing a kiss to your cheek with an adamant but giggled filled, “Goodnight.”

It’s not what you imagined how the first time you shared a bed Ashton would go, but you can’t think to change anything about it now. It’d always be a story to tell, one to hold close to your heart in the future. You reach over, finding Ashton’s hand easily under the cover. His response is immediate as he threads his fingers through yours. 

The TV remains on, a quiet hum and over the soft music of some commercial you’re sure you catch the rumble of a snore. “Thanks, for being here,” you offer. Even if Ashton is still asleep you need to say it. 

“You’re more than welcome.”

[foxes-that-run]

Harry and Taylor Writing Together

It is in this interview and it was Jacknife Lee that confirmed it:

“We met through Gary’s friendship with Ed Sheeran,” he recalls. “Taylor was a fan of Ed’s. They were on tour I think. Taylor came to Topanga. Body guards, big black car. We wrote a song in a couple of hours and sang it sitting on the sofa. She had a handheld microphone. Then we had pasta for dinner and hung around with my kids.“She left and I finished the song off. Owen Pallett [Arcade Fire/Final Fantasy] did some strings very quickly. Went to see her live a couple of times with my daughters who were fans of hers then. Now they like Snail Mail and Tyler the Creator.“It was out of my field of expertise and interest, but I was intrigued and my girls were thrilled. Taylor was nice and very professional. She knew what she wanted and there was no fucking about. She was seeing Harry Styles at the time, so he came to Topanga on her recommendation. She wrote a few songs with him, and it was the same thing – quick. But this time it was more directed by the management and label. They were after something specific. I wanted more acoustic and gentle, almost Americana, and they wanted bombast. They got what they wanted, and that was the extent of my foray into teen-pop territory. It was fun.”

That collaboration was 29 May 2012, when they recorded Everything Has Changed with Ed, Gary did backing vocals on EHC that day and Harry, Taylor and Gary were in LA then and the next day.

The songs we did hear from those sessions are:

The Last Time - Taylor Swift on Red

Something Great - One Direction on Midnight Memories

We will probably never hear the songs with both Harry and Taylor as writing credits.

Harry and Taylor have also worked with the others collaborators, Jeff Bhasker who did most of HS1 co-wrote Holy Ground, Harry wrote Alfies Song (Not so Typical Love Song) with Bleachers/Jack and Harry also wrote some songs we never heard with Max Martin when shopping for HS1 producers.

[blackbutlerfandomnerddomain]

Name: Ivan Smith

Nicknames: Ivy (Aya), Van, Van-Man, Van with the Plan (all by Jac), Dog (Janet), Spot, Emo-Boy, Mama's-Boy (outsiders), Puppy (Estella)

Birthday: January 25th

Age: 18

Height: 5'6

Appearance: Ivan is a pale boy with vitiligo and lots of freckles with black hair usually short cut and groomed well with one half of his hair bleached white or red depending on the occasion for him, big round soft very light brown eyes, black finger nails, rings on his fingers, and thee piercings on his ears

Clothing: His wardrobe is usually always in fashion and somewhat "Gothic" if you well, red and blacks being the main color scheme with some white thrown in if he wants. But his primary outfit is black button up shirt with a red sweater vest and a old black leather jacket, a pair of black cuffed ripped jeans with fishnet leggings underneath, white socks and black doc-martens with a worn out black dog collar to match the the look

Personality: Very brash and tough acting, bluntly honest without a care if it hurts your feelings, and overall sarcastic and sassy though loyal beyond compare and nice once you get to know him, his act of toughness comes from his fear of abandonment. In other words he's Tao from Heartstopper

Schooling: 1st Year of college studying fashion and art

Likes: Jazz music, Hot Topic, Alternative music, fashion, pasta, spa trips, summer, Autumn trends, playing his instruments, Paramore, Panic! At he Disco, teas, art museums, walks in the forests, Elvis Presley, reading, thrift stores, old French films, World War movie documentaries, smoking weed, chocolate shakes, beef tacos, meatball subs, Mnt Dew, Lattes, Starbucks, Halloween

Dislikes: Being picked on by his vitiligo, being called emo-boy, getting lusted after cause he's Goth, someone lusting after his friends when it's clear they aren't comfortable, sexism, really bad fashion trends, horizontal strip patterns on shirts, really cold winter or fall, losing or breaking his vinyl records, cheaters, art thieves, copy-cats, cats, racism, when someone interrupts a movie night, being left our or not able to do something, really crazy theorize, being hit on the back that isn't a friendly or familial back pat/rub, werewolves

Abilities: Cooks, sewing, drawing, outfit/costume making, makeup (really good at eyeliner), fast runner, can lift heavy things

Story: Ivan was a small boy from a very poor family in Croatia and during one trip to England when he was 6 he was abandoned by his parents at a park in London where he was then found and taken in by police who sent him to an orphanage. The orphanage staff and kids weren't too nice ti him, often picking on him and the staff putting him on timeout whenever they think he did something bad even if it's proven he didn't, he dealt with some rude people not adopting him by his appearance and the fact he struggled with English and had a stutter.

Then, he met Estella Smith, a well known fashion designer and animal activist who was visiting her home town on tour and happened to see Ivan sitting alone. The next day she came back and adopted him saying he has inspired her with his rare and unique beauty. By then he was in that orphanage from 6 to 9 years of age.

She then took him back to her home in America and helped taught him English with her childhood best friends and later on Ivan's uncle figures' help, fed him, bathe him, and treated him well. Though he still suffered with the trauma of being abandoned and abused at such a young age he needed to see a psychiatrist from the age of 10 which Estella paid for and he was diagnosed with anxiety and PTSD which made him feel terrible and began to draw out his feelings. Estella found a piece of art and after getting permission to borrow it she made Ivan a special suit based and inspired by his art.

After that he began to learn the world of fashion and art with Estella's help and began to help work in her shop and even began to learn how to make clothes and costumes himself. During this time he met Jac and the two have never once separated from each other's sides though their guardians can feel the chaos oozing from their hangouts or when they lock eyes across the room. Currently he's in school studying to help Estella's fashion business more and work part-time at a cafe near campus

Name Meanings: Ivan - Slavic for "God is gracious" Smith - Old English for "to hit" or "to strike"

[pawsandpassports]

Italy travel tips: Your closing manual to Exploring los angeles Dolce Vita

Today, I'm going to write about Italy travel tips, with its rich records, stunning landscapes, and delectable cuisine, is a dream vacation spot for many tourists. whether you’re charming through historic ruins in Rome, savoring pasta in Florence, or basking in the Tuscan sun, there’s no shortage of reports available. that will assist you render the maximum of your Italian adventure, right here are a few essential Italy tour pointers so as to convert certain a memorable and clean adventure.

1. Plan beforehand, but live flexible

Italy is a rustic entire of numerous areas, every with its very own precise attraction. while it’s vital to plot your itinerary, don’t over-time table yourself. allow some flexibility for your plans to deal with spontaneous discoveries. whether it’s a hidden gelato store or an impromptu nearby competition, some of the pleasant tour moments occur unplanned.

2. master simple Italian phrases

even as more Italians speak English, specifically in traveler regions, getting to know some primary Italian terms can enhance your pleasure. simple greetings like “Buongiorno” (top morning) and “Grazie” (thank you) move a protracted manner. no longer handiest will you show appreciate for the neighborhood way of life, but you may additionally discover that it opens doorways to greater authentic interactions.

3. embrace the nearby dining Etiquette

Italian eating is an revel in in itself. right here are a few pointers to make your meals greater fun:

Timing topics: Italians normally devour dinner later than in many other international locations. eating places frequently open for dinner around 7:30 PM, and it’s no longer uncommon to devour properly into the evening.

Order Like a local: Italians commonly experience a chain of courses: antipasti (appetizers), primi (first publications like pasta), secondi (main publications), and dolci (desserts). Don’t rush; enjoy every route.

keep away from the vacationer Traps: Steer clean of restaurants with menus in more than one languages or those located in fairly touristic regions. as a substitute, seek out places where locals devour; these spots frequently offer higher first-class and extra actual dishes.

4. dress as it should be for church buildings and spiritual websites

Italy is domestic to many lovely churches as well as non secular sites. while touring these places, it’s critical to get dressed modestly. cover your shoulders and knees, and skip sporting hats inner. This respect for local customs could be appreciated and could conform you have got a extra fun visit.

5. Use Public Transportation wisely

Italy’s public transportation machine is efficient and relatively easy to navigate:

Trains: The educate network connects main cities and areas. do not forget shopping tickets in advance, particularly for high-velocity trains. Validate your ticket earlier than boarding to put away from fines.

Buses and Trams: In cities, buses and trams are dependable ways to get round. make certain you've got a valid price tag earlier than boarding, as inspectors often check.

Taxis: Taxis are available but can be high priced. Use official taxi stands or e book thru dependable apps.

6. stay Hydrated and mind the weather

Italy’s weather can vary significantly relying at the region and time of yr. In summer time, temperatures can jump, especially in southern Italy. maintain hydrated, wear sunscreen, and take breaks in the coloration. In cooler months, a light jacket and layers are critical. constantly test the weather forecast before your experience to percent as a consequence.

7. Be organized for the Italian way of lifestyles

Italy is understood for its comfortable and leisurely tempo. Don’t be amazed if provider in eating places or stores is slower than what you is probably used to. embody the Italian technique to existence—take some time, enjoy the moment, and don’t rush.

8. apprehend the Tipping tradition

Tipping isn't always as standard in Italy as it's miles in a few different nations. A small quantity of trade or rounding up the invoice is generally favored but no longer anticipated. service charges are regularly blanketed within the bill, especially in eating places.

9. live safe and comfy

Italy is usually secure for vacationers, however it’s smart to stay vigilant:

Watch Your belongings: Pickpocketing can occur, mainly in crowded regions or vacationer spots. keep an eye on your assets and use a cash belt or at ease bag.

Emergency Numbers: familiarize yourself with emergency numbers. In Italy, 112 is the general emergency wide variety.

10. recognize the nearby tradition

Italians take notable delight in their culture and traditions. show respect through following neighborhood customs and traditions. as an instance, if invited into a person’s home, it’s polite to deliver a small gift like vegetation or wine.

very last mind

Italy is a country that offers infinite opportunities for exploration and leisure. by means of preserving those journey recommendations in thoughts, you’ll be nicely-prepared to dive into the wealthy tapestry of Italian existence. From savoring first-rate meals and exploring ancient sites to experiencing the nice and cozy hospitality of the locals, your Italian adventure guarantees to be unforgettable. Buon viaggio!

[psyoniks]

i got bored and doodled 1/4 of my fan kids on my notes app. finally made more kids so cody and cain aren't just homestuck inserts. might actually draw them asp

casy garcia and sean ashley

weird creepy pasta kid and annoying theater kid

---

cody dreams on derse and is a mage of mind and sean dreams on prospit and is a maid of heart

--

fun facts/random stuff:

cody constantly draws operator symbols on his arm because its fucking cool.

he will spam everyone at 3am in the pestergroup chat to show his shitty proof of mothman. he didn't sleep for 72 hours and was running on coffee. it was just a moth on his window.

speaking of, he's terrified of moths. they're the devil incarnate.

stole his name from the best creepypasta x virus

gets genuinely anxious at the idea of aliens existing. he's going to have a hell of a breakdown at some point.

never shuts up about Pokémon. ever.

most likely nonbianry or smth but he ain't got time to figure that out

likes glam rock, screamo and vocaloid

makes short horror films and likes bringing his cam recorder into the woods next to his house to try(and unsuccessfully)find evidence of the supernatural.

makes multiple dnd character sheets because its fun but never uses them. and because he's a nerd and has no one to play with irl.

plays the electric guitar but he's extremely bad at it.

---

he watches way too many shitty romcoms

sean wants to visit paris to have a main character love story moment.

people think he's annoying because he likes to be dramatic for the fun of it and is very theatrical. so he tries to tone it down when he's not alone, but it's pretty hard for him.

he's the type to read a book or write in a journal at a concert to seem 'mysterious' and by the off chance his favorite band invites him backstage to have a tour or some shit(he's so real).

in the theater club at his school, hasn't gotten a lead yet but he will eventually!(he won't)

sean actually has terrible stage freight, but still has a passion the preforming arts, so he joined the club in the spur of the moment to try and get over it

tripped over his own foot during opening night for a musical and ended up starting a fire somehow.

likes high-school musical and glee.

actually plays a sport, soccer.

pretends to know french because it thinks it makes him seem more sophisticated. He does not know french.

hates coffee but drinks it anyways. thinks its 'romantic' since coffee shop love stories are all rage.

reads old boring books that you'd read in english class like the great gabsty because he thinks it make him seem more mature.

he's actually very happy to help out his friends anytime they need something

----

cody and sean like to discuss about the conspiracy theories about the cult theater people, the mystery of hamlet curse, superstitions and of the incredibly specific scenario if aliens were to infect humans to sing and dance(tgwdlm real). other than that they like to play video games, though their tastes are wildly different. cody likes horror while sean likes those really bad visual novels, which cody makes fun of. they also both unironically like twilight. cody is team jacob and sean is team edward and they do argue about it.

[spine-buster]

The President Wears Prada (William Nylander) | Epilogue 2: A Queen’s Crown

A/N: I know this one is a bit short.  One more epilogue to go, and if you missed my update, it will be posted THIS WEDNESDAY at 7:30pm.  We’re ending the disaster that was 2020 with Aberdeen and Willy!

January 2023

Aberdeen Bloom was freaking the fuck out.  

Anna Wintour just walked into the room.

“Miss Bloom!  Hello,” she greeted, her signature accent filling the room as her dress swayed back and forth.  Every stylish, her boots clacked against the floor as she approached the photographer and set where Aberdeen was about to pose on a beautifully crafted, eccentrically pink upholstered couch in front of styled bookcases holding hundred-year-old editions of books.  

“Hello Ms. Wintour,” Aberdeen said as confidently as she could, shaking Anna’s hand.  Her own dress – a black, high-neck midi-length dress with sheer long sleeves and hand applied golden crystals she was styled in that morning – sparkled in the light of the room.  “It’s an honour to meet you.  Thank you for the profile.”

“It’s not every day a woman sets a record in the writing world,” Anna said.  “I would be a fool not to profile the youngest person to ever receive a Booker Prize for fiction.”

Aberdeen smiled.  Every time she heard that – the youngest person to ever receive a Booker Prize for fiction – she had to pinch herself.  She truly believed her life wasn’t real over these past few years.  Most authors dreamt of being nominated for awards.  Her first book was longlisted for the two biggest literary awards in Canada.  Her second book, published by Coach House again but then picked up by Knopf and published internationally, had won the two biggest literary awards in Canada and had just won the Booker Prize for Fiction, the most prestigious literary award in the world.  She was living in a dream world.

“And you must be the new fiancé,” Anna said, motioning over to where William was standing just out of shot, watching the photoshoot about to begin.  “Pleasure to meet you.  You must be in town to face the Rangers.”

“You as well,” William approached her to shake her hand.  “You made my fiancée’s dream come true with this profile.”

“Well considering how fashionable she’d been on the book tour,” Anna shrugged her shoulders, as if to say it was so obvious to have her in the pages of Vogue.  “I know some of the editors here kept tabs on it.  Did you employ a stylist?”

“No ma’am,” Aberdeen giggled slightly.  If Anna Wintour was about to compliment her on her style, she was going to drop dead.

“Impressive,” Anna nodded.  “Now let’s see the ring.”

Aberdeen held out her left hand.  Anna inspected the ring like a gemologist.  When William proposed with it, Aberdeen was blown away.  He’d designed it himself.  A 4 carat round diamond in a twisted halo design and pavé band.  It quite literally looked like a flower in bloom.  And for Aberdeen’s eyes only, an inscription on the inside of the band in the most delicate handwriting.  “Stunning,” she said, turning to the photographer.  “Make sure you get it.”

“Of course, Ms. Wintour.”

Anna side-stepped to inspect the set.  She took one last look at Aberdeen in her dress and high heels and perfectly waved hair and perfectly applied makeup.  Anna gave her an up-down and suddenly Aberdeen became nervous.  Anna looked towards the stylist.  “We need a crown.  Crowns.”

“Crown?  Crowns?  Multiple?”

“Her novel is titled A Queen’s Crown.  She’s the youngest woman – person – to win the Booker Prize for fiction.  Surely she should wear a crown in her photoshoot.”

“I—I’ll go into the closet,” the stylist nodded, hurrying out of the room.

Anna turned once more to Aberdeen.  “Enjoy.”

***

March 2023

“I’m not about to be murdered by Orla Bloom for not having our wedding in a Catholic Church,” William said as he stuffed pasta into his mouth at the dinner table.  

“But you’re not Catholic,” Aberdeen tried to explain to him, again.  “You don’t understand what we’ll have to go through to get married in a Catholic Church.  There are classes – like legit marriage classes we have to take.  And we have to get, like, permission from the diocese to enter into the marriage and follow a Catholic wedding forma—”

“Listen to me,” William said, interrupting her.  He grabbed her hand from across the table to calm her down.  He knew how stressed she was getting about getting married, if only because there was Toronto and Sweden and Northern Ireland and Scotland to deal with.  That didn’t even factor in hockey, making them only really able to have the wedding within a twelve-week span of the year.  That also didn’t factor in her job, which, between book tours and interviews and appearances and writing her next, also created limited time and availability for their wedding date.  But when she felt his hand wrap around hers, he saw her visibly relax.  “I love you.  We could go down to the courthouse right now to get married.  But this means a lot to Orla.  And I know you won’t say it, but I know how much this means to you, to be married in the same church you went to as a kid in Etobicoke,” he said softly.  “So we’re doing it there.  No ifs, and, or buts.  I’ll take any class I have to in order to marry you.  I’ll donate.  Give my blood.  Whatever.  We’re getting married there.”

Aberdeen couldn’t take it.  She got up from her seat and moved to sit in William’s lap.  She didn’t care that they were at the dinner table, and she didn’t care that William had to push back his chair really quickly to accommodate her.  All she wanted to do was melt into him completely.  “Thank you so much,” she whispered against his lips as she kissed him.  “I love you.  You know that, right?”

William smiled.  “I do.  And I love you too.  That’s why I gave you that ring.”

***

TALK OF THE TOWN: Booker Prize-winning and Toronto-based author Aberdeen Bloom and William Nylander (you know, of the Toronto Maple Leafs) just bought “the last lot on the Kingsway” – an old 1970s style bungalow empty for some time now.  Sources say the couple plan to tear it down (of course) and build their dream home, a Scandinavian-inspired house where Bloom will no doubt produce her next great novels.  Bloom and Nylander will be two blocks away from her former and his current boss, Brendan Shanahan, President of the Toronto Maple Leafs.  Bloom has always said in interviews that she will never leave Toronto, so it’s fitting that the girl who was born and raised in Etobicoke would buy on one of the city’s most exclusive and coveted streets.

***

May 2023

“Vogue is coming to the wedding?  Vogue?!  Like…Vogue magazine?!” Aleida asked as she fed a now two-year-old Helena sitting in a high chair.  Aberdeen smiled wryly before nodding her head.  Aleida was still dumbfounded.  “Like…Anna Wintour Vogue magazine.  That Vogue magazine.”

“That Vogue magazine,” Aberdeen nodded.  “They’re profiling it for an issue, along with my dress fitting.  And then when the house is done, they’re going to do a feature on that too.”

Aleida looked towards Bee, who was just as shocked as Aleida was.  “We need to go shopping for new dresses.”

“We definitely need to go shopping for new dresses,” Bee agreed.  “I better let Aryne know too.”

“Guys, it’s still like, two years away.  We set the date for August 23rd, 2025,” Aberdeen smiled as she reminded them.  “You will have plenty of time.  Plenty.”

“I don’t know about that.  Weddings creep up on you quick,” Bee joked.  Aberdeen completely understood where she was coming from.  Bee and Morgan were getting married in July.  William and Aberdeen were invited, of course, and would be going.  Bee spoke a lot about the planning the past few months and always gave updates whenever the girls were all together.  “I mean, I thought a year would be plenty of time for the wedding.  And it is, don’t get me wrong…but it definitely came sooner than I thought!”

“You need to get the venue sorted now before anything else,” Aleida offered.  “You’re two years out so you should honestly have your choice in place.  But I don’t think there’s any venue in this city that would turn you down.”

“We’ve already booked,” Aberdeen smiled wryly.  She was just full of surprises for the girls today.  They looked at her, waiting for a response.  “The Aria ballroom at the Four Seasons,” she revealed.

“Ooooooooooh,” both women cooed simultaneously at the revelation.  Even Helena join in on the sound.  “That will look stunning,” Aleida commented.  “I can see it now – those floor-to-ceiling windows with flowers hanging and—”

“—don’t forget the drapery over the dancefloor—” Bee offered.

“—the drapery over the dancefloor—”

“—and the centrepieces…big, tall arrangements that stretch up—”

“Ladies, ladies, ladies,” Aberdeen held her hands up gently, causing Bee and Aleida to stop momentarily.  Aberdeen paused for dramatic effect.  “We’ve gotta write all this stuff down.”

The girls smiled and wiggled in their seats excitedly.  “I’m giving you Rachel’s number,” Bee said, immediately mentioning her florist.  “Your last name’s Bloom.  There’s gotta be a shit ton of flowers at this wedding.”

***

July 2023

Aberdeen had tears in her eyes as she watched Morgan and Bee say “I do”.  William had been holding her hand throughout the entire ceremony, rubbing the back of it gently with his own thumb.  When they finally had their first kiss, it was the only point he let go so he could whistle loudly and clap and cheer.  Bee looked extraordinary in her lace dress.  Aberdeen could only imagine what would be in store for her when she went wedding dress shopping.

When the reception began, Aberdeen couldn’t help but get even more emotional.  Knowing what Bee had gone through in her life, and seeing her dance with Morgan for their first dance made some tears fall down her cheeks.  William noticed almost immediately, even though he was behind her; he wrapped his arms around her waist tightly and nestled his head onto her shoulder.   “That’ll be us soon,” he whispered.

Aberdeen nodded her head.  “I know.  I’m so excited.”

“I love you so much.  I can’t wait for you to be my wife.”

“And I can’t wait for you to be my husband.”

“And baby daddy.  Don’t forget baby daddy,” he joked.

Aberdeen giggled.  She knew he said that to make her laugh, because even though these were tears of joy, he didn’t like to see her cry.  “Baby daddy too,” she nodded.  “I can’t wait to have a thousand more little Nylanders running around Etobicoke.”

“We’re going to take over the world.”

***

August 23rd, 2025

Aberdeen looked at her dad as he held his arm out for her to grab.  He looked so spiffy in his suit, and every time she saw him today, he had a giant smile on his face.  It hadn’t left since their early morning wake up call to get hair and makeup done.  He’d cried when he saw her in her dress for the first time.  Now, if it was even possible, his smile was even wider.  “Ready, sweetheart?” he asked.

Aberdeen nodded, linking her arm with her father’s.  “I love you so much, dad.”

“I love you too, Aberdeen.  Every day I thank my lucky stars for you and Siena and Camden.  You’ve brought so much light to my life.”

Aberdeen’s bridesmaids had already walked out – Jacquie, Stephanie, Daniella, Kasha, and Siena as her maid of honour.  She knew Alex would be standing beside William at the front of the aisle, with Camden (now a smart-as-a-whip-16 year old) and some of his cousins there too.  The music began playing.  She took a deep breath.  The doors opened.

As she walked down the aisle with her father, she saw a lot of familiar faces.  Morgan and Bee, of course, cradling a six-month-old Andy.  Fred and Aleida, with a four-year-old Helena in the cutest little tutu-style dress.  Auston, John and Aryne, Zach and Alannah, Joe with his wife and kids, Pierre, Rasmus, Mitch and Steph, Jake, Courtney, and Luna, Justin and Audrey – so many of the Leafs.  Beth Zadakis.  Her editor from Coach House Books.  Her editor from Knopf.  Jason, Jennifer, and their four girls.  Brendan and his wife.  Her grandparents, who came in all the way from Northern Ireland.  Michael and Camilla.  Her mom.

And of course, William.  William, who was wiping tears away from his eyes.  William, who looked so dapper in his tux.  William.  

Her William.

[cocochannel00]

Be Here With Me

In which Harry is home physically but his head is somewhere else..... get ready for some major angst/ fluff. 

You had gotten into a fight. Not a throwing plates and stomping up the stairs fight, but a big fight none the less. Harry had gotten back from tour a month ago and up until this week you guys had been relatively okay. Sure you might have gotten a little frustrated with the way he never placed his shoes in the right spot or the way he would always take a phone call while you two were having dinner, but those things were small enough that you could overlook them. Harry’s new workaholic lifestyle, however, you couldn’t overlook. Harry had always been the kind of person that constantly had to be doing something. Being in One Direction was great for him as he was constantly on the move- not spending more than maybe a couple of weeks at home a year. Even when they went on hiatus Harry tried to keep himself occupied with not only his solo music but also Dunkirk. After the first tour, he slowed down a bit by waiting almost a full year and a half before releasing a second album (much to the fans dislike), but once that tour was all over he didn’t know what to do with himself. 

The first week off he spent it with his family (mainly Anne). Therein Chesire, he spent nearly the first four days asleep, waking up only to eat a sandwich for lunch and then going back to sleep. You spent that week working double shifts so that you could go on vacation with him the week after. Harry had surprised you for your birthday with a week-long trip to the Italian countryside. You spent the week eating cannolis and lasagna while Harry showed you the beautiful areas where he shot his Gucci campaign years ago. You loved every minute of the trip and you had never felt closer to him. Every night the two of you would climb onto the roof of the small cottage you were renting and would lay there under the stars. As you laid wrapped up in his arms Harry would whisper all the amazing things he loved about you. The trip was magical which made it all the more difficult to get back into a routine. One, that for the first time in six months, actually included Harry- well kind of. 

It was now week six of Harry being home and you were losing your mind. Harry had decided to stay at your flat for the past two weeks which was great. You loved coming back home after a long day at the hospital to him sitting on your small ripped up couch, glasses perched on his nose as he wrote vigorously in his journal. You loved the way his nose crinkled when he focused too hard or the way he would shake his leg up and down whenever he felt anxious about something. Those cute habits, however, became fewer and fewer as the phone calls increased. Now you would walk in and find Harry hunched over a laptop while he talked with Jeff or Ben on speaker. 

You had just finished a twelve-hour shift late on a Friday night when you walked into your flat to see Harry animately talking on the phone.

“Yeah, I agree. I think we should try and get a good eighty tour dates this time around.” Harry stated as he swiveled on one of your kitchen stools. You dropped your bag by the front door before walking up to Harry to give him a quick peck on the cheek. He turned towards you and gave you a small smile before mouthing a quick hello and turning back to his screen. 

Sluggishly you began to gather the ingredients to make pasta for dinner. It was nearly 11pm and all you could think of doing right now was curling up in bed with Harry, but the grumbling of your stomach wouldn’t stop. As you began to put the pasta in the boiling water Harry spoke up again.

“Yeah, I think we should try and start the third record as soon as possible. I’m thinking maybe this time instead of Jamaica I could go to Japan to get some inspiration... yeah I don’t have anything planned yet but I got a couple of ideas. Ok so I’ll come in tomorrow and we can try and schedule the 80 tour dates for next fall? Ok, yeah so let's try and get that all sorted in the next couple of days. Wonderful, thank you, Jeff. Bye” Harry stated as he ended the call.

You refuse to look at him. You had been waiting to spend the next couple of months with Harry since he got back. He had been away for so long that you had started to forget the little things you use to do together. The walks in the park down the street, the trips to the bookshop on the other side of town that had the cute little coffee shop, the lazy days curled up in bed. God did you miss it. You weren’t sure if it was the long day at work or the idea of Harry leaving you again, but your eyes began to water. You abandoned the pasta and turned off the stove as you attempted to calm yourself by taking deep breaths with little success. Your first tear began to fall as you heard Harry get up from his seat and walk towards you.

“Hello love, how was your day today?” He asked, placing a kiss to your temple as he wrapped his arms around your waist from behind. 

“It was... fine. How was yours?” you replied with a tremble in your voice. 

“Love, are you ok?” Harry asked cautiously as he turned you to face him. 

You quickly wiped at the tears in your eyes and kept your head down.

“I’m fine, don’t worry about it” you mumble as you bring your sleeve up one last time to wipe your nose as you sniffle.

Harry carefully grasps your chin in between his thumb and pointer finger and carefully tilts your head up to look at him. His piercing green eyes looked at you as worry line began to form on his forehead.

“I’m going to worry if my darling is crying. What’s wrong?” he asked as he ran his thumb up and down the side of your cheek. 

You shook your head quickly and took a step back from hand. Wrapping your arms around yourself you took another deep breath to keep your tears at bay. 

“You’re leaving, I’m losing you” you whispered softly as you stared down at the floor.

“What do you mean I’m leaving? I’m right here (y/n)” he questioned as he stepped closer to you, causing you to back away more until your back hit the counter.

“You’re going to leave to Japan an-and I’m never going to see you. And then you’re going to go on tour again fo-for god knows how long and you’ll forget about me and then we’re going to fight about it and I-I I don’t want to do that. We’re already so distant and you’re here with me and it will only ge-get worse when you leave so I-” you rambled as the tears flowed freely down your face.

Harry quickly wrapped his arms around your trembling frame.

“Shh love, breathe for me, yeah? Big deep breath. There we go. You’re okay, we’re okay. I’m not leaving yet, just a small meeting tomorrow with Jeff. Not going anywhere yet. Look at me, I’m right here, okay?” he interjected as buried his face into your neck.

“But you’re not here Harry, at least not with me. Besides the trip to Italy which was magical and amazing, you’re not here. You’re constantly working or on the phone and I get it, I do! It’s your job and you love it, but I feel like we're growing apart because of it. When was the last time we went and did something together that wasn’t music related? I just I....” you added softly as Harry ran his hands up and down your back. 

“I know, I know its been tough, but were strong, yeah? We made it six months apart we can make it through anything. I’ll take you wherever you want to go. You can come to Japan with me? We can get away from the world together” he suggested as you shook your head.

“Harry you know I can’t do that even if I wanted too. I need my job in order to pay for this flat and support myself” you spoke.

“I’ll support you. I’ve told you I would a million times before. I can show you tokyo and you can come on tour and-”

“Harry that’s not the point. I don’t want to quit my job. I love my job and I refuse to have you pay for me. I already feel guilty enough when you buy me things and I refuse to carry more of that burden” you answered. 

“Love I don’t know what you want for me to do... I have an obligation to the fans, to the label, to the people I employ to go on tour and make music. Maybe you can come for a bit or I can schedule in more breaks than the first one and we can-” he insisted as you looked up at him in frustration before groaning.

“Harry you’re not listening to me. I can’t just uproot my life and follow you around the world and quite frankly I don’t think I would even if I could. You know if I went I spend all my time alone in hotel rooms and tour buses while you’re recording and performing and I can’t do that. I can’t spend the next six months away from you again having to plan our every interaction weeks in advance just to get a three-minute facetime call before work. Its physically and emotionally draining and I-” you expressed as Harry interrupted.

“So you just want to give up? Is that it. Is this your way of breaking up with me because if it is I-” Harry began to state angrily as you shook your head, tears falling harder than before.

“That’s not what I want. I want us to be us again, but I don’t know how to do that anymore with you thousands of miles away all the time. It’s not health Harry. I love you, god do I love you, but you’ve been home six weeks and I’ve barely seen you and your sleeping in my own flat! What is it going to be like when you're away? I can’t go back to that stress and loneliness again” you pleaded as you turn your back to him.

“(Y/n), love, don’t shut me out. Talk to me” he pleaded, his voice cracking ever so slightly. 

You begin to bite your lip harshly as you turn to face him. The two of you stare at each other as Harry cautious walks towards you. 

“Stop that, you’re going to hurt yourself love” he whispered as he carefully used his right thumb to release your lower lip from your teeth. Just as he was about to speak again you spoke.

“I need a break... I... we need a break. I need some space to-to get myself together... We should learn to... I need some space. I have to learn how to live without you for a bit. Find out who I am without. I-” you professed as Harry vigorously shook his head and wrapped his arms around you tightly.

“You don’t have to do this- we don’t have to do this. We can work around this small bump it's going to be okay. I love you more than anything and I can’t imagine my world without you” he murmured into your neck as his tears dripped down your collarbone. 

The two of you stood there in the kitchen in silence, the only sound coming from Harry’s sobs and your sniffles. Cautiously you ran your hands through his hair in an attempt to sooth his sobs. Carefully you lifted his head from your neck and held his face in your hands. His eyes were glossy and his face blotchy as you wiped the few tears that were left. 

“I think we should finish this tomorrow when we have clearer heads, ok? I’m going to go to bed. The guest room is made if you want to stay, but I think some space is good for right now. Does that sound ok?” you sniffled as he cautiously nodded and placed a long kiss to your forehead.

“Ok love. I love you” he whispered hoarsely with a small smile. 

“I love you too H” you replied before giving him a chaste kiss on the cheek and entering your room, closing the door behind you... 

*4 Hours Later...*

You had been tossing and turning in your bed since the minute you laid down and you knew that at this rate you weren’t going to get any sleep before your sixteen-hour shift tomorrow.

Your body was exhausted, but your brain wouldn’t let you fall asleep. You kept replaying the argument over in your heads. Sure you didn’t know how to fix the distance issues and the feelings of loneliness, but was not having Harry at all any better? You began to think about all of the memories you and Harry had made since you started over a year ago from your trip to Mallorca to the Christmas dinner at his mom’s house. You remember the little things like the look of pure shock when you surprised him on tour or the cheeky smile he gives you as you squint your eyes in an attempt to read your new book because you refuse to use glasses. You remember your road trip to Sussex and the night the two of you danced backstage at a Fleetwood Mac concert without a care or worry in the world. You remember when he brought you into the studio and nervously played you the album from start to finish which ended with you being a sobbing mess because of how amazing it was. You remember him consoling you when one of your favorite patients died or when your father got sick. All the memories flooded you in waves and as you began to cry once again as you realized that you really couldn’t live without Harry anymore. He had become such a big part of you over the past year and you weren’t willing to give him up. 

Cautiously you slid the covers down your body and sat up on your bed. You walked slowly towards your guest room and carefully knocked on the door. When you didn’t hear a reply you cautiously opened the door and poked your head in. There you found Harry wide awake staring at you in the dark. 

“Hey” you whispered quietly as you closed the door behind you. 

“Hey” he replied back as he shifted over in the bed and patted the space next to him. 

You gradually walked across the room to the bed and curled up under the covers. Harry carefully slid down next to you a quietly wrapped his arm around your waist, your head landing on his chest. He kissed the crown of your head as tears unintentionally slipped from your eyes. 

“I don’t want to lose you. Can’t live without you” you mumble into his chest as he squeezes your side and runs his other hand through your hair.

“Never going to lose me, darling. You’re stuck with me for the long haul. Couldn’t imagine going through life without you by my side. Would be devastating” he reassured as he wiped away your tears.

“I love you so much” you replied back as you left delicate kisses across his collar bone.

“I love you too, petal... I canceled my meeting with Jeff. Want you to be there too, but I already told him I was going to take a longer break this time. Called you in sick to work tomorrow too, hope you don’t mind. Was hoping we could maybe spend the day together here? Ordered that book you’ve been meaning to read, should be here in the morning. I could make my famous pancakes and we could spend the day snuggling? That sound good?” he asked. 

You nodded your head and gave his body a tight squeeze. 

“Sounds perfect, H. Thank you. I’m sorry about before I just-”

“Shhh. Don’t worry about it. Everythings going to be alright. We're going to work as a team and figure it out as we go. Try and get some sleep now, love. Everything is going to be ok” he reassured as he ran his arms up and down, lulling you to sleep. 

Harry was determined to fix everything and you were determined to never let him go. You knew then that the two of you would mend your bond just fine...

I KNOW ITS BEEN A REALLY LONG TIME AND IM SO SORRY! I have literally been swamped with work all semester but luckily I only have 2 weeks left and then these will get more regular. If you have any requests (literally any) please please please send them in and I’ll try and write them as soon as I can. I hope you all enjoy!

masterlist link is here!

[skidrow-seymour]

Tagged by @charlie-duke Cheers! :)

Zodiac sign: 🦀

Height: 5'6-ish

Last movie I saw: The Addams family (2019). Yeah, I don't know why either.

Last thing I googled: The You're Dead to me podcast, because they had to stop recording and I'm desperate for more episodes!

Favourite musician: Dallas Green, in any way shape or form.

Song stuck in my head: The Man - The Killers.

Other blogs: None

Following: 99

Followers: That are actual people and not porn bots? 6, if I'm lucky.

Do I get asks?: Never!

Amount of sleep I get: Eight hours usually, but in lockdown anything goes.

Lucky numbers: I've just realised that I don't think I have one ☹

Dream job: Owner of a cosy secondhand bookshop that's part coffee shop

Dream trip: A campervan tour of the national parks of Canada, though I'm sure it's so much more perfect in my head.

Favourite food: Pasta 🤤

Instruments: None, though I'd like to be able to play the piano

Languages: English and maybe 10 words of Welsh.

Favourite songs: It changes every day, but my go to at the mo are The Recluse - Plan B (mood) and Your girlfriend - Blossoms

Tagging: @bewareofdragon because they're sweet (and I'm trying to get in with the Canadians so they'll let me come live with them)

[blurry-fics]

Family Meeting

Pairing: Josh Dun x Reader

Warnings: None

Word Count: 1826

Request: Another request from Wattpad! Someone asked me to write a fic where the reader has a stutter/stammer. Just a little disclaimer: I did some research to find out the best way to write the reader in this instance. If anyone is curious as to where I got that information, I am happy to share. It was my goal to portray this as accurately as possible!

Author’s Note: I hope you guys like this one! 

You stared down at your beaten up shoes. Had you made the wrong choice in wearing them? Josh’s parents might think that they were gross. There were plenty of other, nicer, shoes that you could have worn. Why didn’t you pick one of them?

“Are you doing alright?” Josh asked, reaching over and grabbing your hand from your lap.

You looked over to him and nodded, hoping that it would reassure him. He glanced at you and gave your hand a light squeeze.

After six months of dating, you had finally gone home to Ohio with Josh to meet his family. Luckily for you, only his parents would be home this weekend. You weren’t so sure that you would be able to handle meeting all of his siblings at the same time too.

“They’re going to love you, I promise. My mom hasn’t been able to stop talking about you since I sent her some pictures of us.”

“T… t-hat’s good to hear,” you said, forcing your mouth into a lopsided smile.

“And you know that at the end of the day, I’m always going to have your back.”

Josh turned off the main road onto a little side street. You felt your heartbeat begin to pick up as rows of suburban houses came into view. Your grip on Josh’s hand grew tighter.

“This is it,” Josh said as he pulled up against the curb.

“It’s nice,” you said.

The house was about how you had pictured it with brick walls and brightly colored siding. A nice manicured lawn was out front and you could practically picture Josh and his siblings playing out in the yard during the summer. It matched all the childhood stories Josh had told you perfectly.

“Ready?” Josh asked, shutting off the car.

“Yeah, let’s go.”

Josh wrapped an arm around you as you walked up the pathway that led to the front door. You took deep breaths and nervously tapped your fingers against Josh’s torso. He removed his arm from around you once you reached the porch so that he could knock. You fiddled with the end of your shirt.

His mom was the one to open the door. She smiled widely once she realized that it was the two of you.

“Josh! Y/N! I’m so glad that you made it.”

Josh stepped inside so you followed suit. She pulled him into a hug and then turned to you, still holding her arms out widely. You hesitantly stepped forward and allowed yourself to be pulled into her embrace.

“It’s so nice to finally meet you, Y/N. Josh has told me so much about you. You’re even more beautiful than your pictures. I’m Laura, by the way.”

“Thank you,” you smiled. “It’s nice to finally m… nice to finally m-meet you too.”

Josh’s dad appeared around the corner. He also began smiling once he realized that you and Josh had arrived.

“I was wondering when you two were going to arrive!”

He pulled Josh into a hug but settled on giving you a handshake as he introduced himself. You tried your best to keep your arm stiff and give him a solid handshake.

“Where’s all your stuff?” Laura asked.

“Still in the car,” Josh explained. “I just wanted to let you guys know that we made it.”

“Why don’t we go carry it in?” Bill asked, clapping a hand down on Josh’s shoulder.

Josh nodded and followed his dad back out the door. You wanted to go with him, but didn’t want to appear rude.

“You two made it just in time for dinner,” Laura said, beginning to walk down the hallway. You followed after her. “Josh mentioned that you like pasta, so that’s what I made.”

A variety of foods were laid out on the kitchen counter. Laura had pulled out all the stops for tonight’s dinner, and you weren’t sure whether to be flattered or terrified.

“T… t-his looks amazing,” you smiled.

“You think so?” she grinned. “I was so worried that you wouldn’t like the food that I made.”

“Are you kidding? It smells amazing in here.”

She waved a hand at you, “Oh, stop flattering me.”

Your head turned towards the front door as you heard it swing open again. Josh and his dad were carrying your luggage through the door.

“Y/N, do you want to come upstairs with me so you know where my room is?”

“Sure,” you smiled, pushing away from the counter to walk towards Josh.

You took your bags from Bill and followed Josh’s lead in kicking your shoes off at the bottom of the stairs. It was a bit awkward to get your bags up the narrow staircase, but you eventually managed to do it without damaging anything.

“That’s Jordan’s room,” Josh explained, pointing to one of the closed doors. “Then Abigail’s, Ashley’s, and mine.”

He pushed the door open and you finally got a good look at Josh’s childhood room. There was a small drum set pushed into a corner between his bed and a wall, next to a small tv on a stand. The desk in the far corner was covered in papers and band stuff. It was just big enough for you and Josh to stand in the middle of the room with your luggage without bumping into anything.

“This is nice,” you said, walking over and taking a seat on his bed.

“Not as nice as my house back home,” he said, pushing your suitcases into the bottom of the closet.

“Yeah, well you bought that after you got super famous.”

“You’ve got me there,” he smiled. “So what do you think about my parents so far?”

“They’re really cool! Your mom was so s…s... nice to make dinner for us.”

“She loves to cook for everyone. There’s a reason that she always hosts holidays.”

“Josh! Y/N! The food is getting cold!”

“You ready?” Josh asked.

You nodded and stood up from his bed. He followed you back out into the hallway and down the stairs.

Bill and Laura were already filling their plates with food. Josh grabbed you a plate from the cabinet and the two of you followed suit. There were so many different things that you weren’t sure if you would be able to get it all onto a single plate.

Once everyone had their food, you took a seat at the dining table. Josh took the place next to you and Laura sat down across from you, giving you a smile as she did so.

“So, Y/N,” Bill started. “Josh tells us that you have been going on tour with them.”

“Yeah, I have. It’s been really fun to s… s-pend time with the boys and see Josh in his element.”

“I know what you mean,” Laura chimed in. “Watching him and Tyler perform is truly something else. I remember when they were playing tiny shows here in Ohio and now they’re playing sold out shows all over the world.”

“Mom,” Josh sighed, although you could tell that she was really proud of her son.

Laura shook her head, “He always gets embarrassed when we talk about him.”

“I know what you mean. He gets embarrassed when I t… t-alk about him too.”

This earned Josh a look from his mom, causing you to giggle.

“Why don’t you tell us more about you, Y/N?” Bill chimed in. “Josh has been talked about enough these days.”

Josh smiled and shook his head. You pushed around some of your food.

“Um, well I grew up in Y/H/N. Before I m… m-et Josh, I had gone to college and gotten a degree, but I wasn’t really interested in getting a job in that field yet.” Josh reached over and rested a hand on your leg. “I was actually working in a record shop while I was figuring out what I wanted to do, which is when I met Josh. We really hit it off and before l… l-ong I was joining them on tour and helping out with that. I don’t know what else there is to tell,” you laughed nervously.

Josh gave your leg a reassuring squeeze and smiled at you. His parents seemed genuinely interested in what you had to say, which was nice.

“Well, you seem like a great fit for Josh and I can see that you make him very happy.”

“Thank you,” you grinned.

The rest of the night went by faster than you had expected. The four of you sat around swapping stories--many of which involved Josh doing embarrassing things as a child--, playing card games, and eating the dessert that Laura had graciously made for you. You were laughing so hard that your stomach hurt and you were slowly beginning to feel more relaxed.

Bill and Laura finally announced that they were going to bed, so you and Josh decided to do the same. He laced his fingers with yours and practically pulled you up the steps. You were so tired that you collapsed on his bed at the first opportunity.

“Today was fun,” you smiled, burying your face into his pillow. “I like your family.”

“From the looks of it, they like you too,” Josh smiled as he hopped out of his jeans.

“Can I wear your s… wear your s-shirt to bed?” you asked.

“Of course,” he answered, stripping his shirt off and tossing it over to you.

You changed out of your clothes into Josh’s shirt. He finished pulling on his sweatpants and then walked over to flip the light off. The only light in the room was from the streetlamp out on the street.

“How are we going to do this?” you asked, looking down at the twin bed that you were sitting on. It was much different than the king bed you were used to being in when you slept over at Josh’s.

“Um.” You could just make out the shape of Josh slowly making his way across the bedroom. “I guess we’ll have to-”

He stopped speaking as he bumped into you sitting on the bed.

“Josh!” you giggled, reaching up to rub your arm. “That hurt.”

“Sorry, I thought you were already laying down.”

“No, I was waiting for you. Did you want to be by the wall or should I?”

“I’ll go by the wall.”

Josh slowly climbed past you and slid under the covers. Once he was settled, he held his arms out so that you had space to get comfortable. You crawled under the covers and snuggled up next to him.

“Thank you for coming with me to see my family,” he said, wrapping an arm around you.

“Of course. T… t-hey’re so nice. I see where you get it from now.”

Josh leaned forward and pressed a kiss to your temple. You smiled and wrapped one of your hands around his forearm, holding him close to you.

“Goodnight, Y/N.”

“Goodnight, Josh.”

[lingthusiasm]

Transcript Episode 26: Why do C and G come in hard and soft versions? Palatalization

This is a transcript for Lingthusiasm Episode 26: Why do C and G come in hard and soft versions? Palatalization. It’s been lightly edited for readability. Listen to the episode here or wherever you get your podcasts. Links to studies mentioned and further reading can be found on the Episode 26 show notes page.

[Music]

Gretchen: Welcome to Lingthusiasm, a podcast that's enthusiastic about linguistics! I'm Gretchen McCulloch.

Lauren: And I'm Lauren Gawne, and today, we're getting enthusiastic about palatalisation. That is to say, “What the heck is going on with G and C?” But first, thanks to everyone for your enthusiastic recommending during our November Recommend-A-Thon.

Gretchen: Yes, thanks so much for all your tweets, and posts, and shares, and all of the new people that you've brought in with you to listen to Lingthusiasm.

Lauren: We will be thanking every one of you who made some kind of public declaration about their love of Lingthusiasm. We'll give you until the end of the month to add yourself to that esteemed group of people, so we can thank you all in our annual anniversary post.

Gretchen: Yes, so you have till the end of November 2018 to be part of this year's Recommend-A-Thon thank you post, which will live in perpetuity on our website. Last year we thanked 100 people. This year, I think we can thank even more. I'm really excited by what we've seen so far.

Lauren: I'm feeling very confident about that. And of course, you can continue to recommend us to anyone who needs a little more linguistics in their life any time of the year.

Gretchen: I also want to thank everybody who came out to the live shows.

Lauren: Yay! I'm not gonna lie, we're recording this before the live shows.

Gretchen: So we're really hoping people actually come.

Lauren: We are just going to have to assume that they were an absolute rolling success.

Gretchen: We're recording well in advance at the moment to make sure that we have episodes for when Lauren's on leave. We're very excited about those live shows. I assume they were great. Thanks so much to everyone who came out in Melbourne and Sydney. It was so fun to get to see those cities. We also want to remind you that if you're thinking about getting Lingthusiasm merch for any linguists or language enthusiasts in your life, if you want to get someone a scarf with the International Phonetic Alphabet, or tree symbol diagrams on them, or a tie with the IPA on it, or various baby outfits, or T-shirts that say, “Not judging your grammar, just analysing it,” or many other things, now is a great time to place an order so that arrives towards the end of the year.

Lauren: Remember, it's also totally okay to use this as a list of suggestions for other people to buy you, or if you enjoy doing a bit of holiday shopping for yourself, we're not gonna stop you.

Gretchen: We definitely noticed from last year that RedBubble typically runs some sales this time of year, so hopefully, you can take advantage of those to get you and/or your friends and family some great Lingthusiasm swag.

Lauren: Speaking of the holiday season, it's a very important holiday season coming up that's the Northern Hemisphere winter conference season, which I'm usually excited about. Not doing so much travel this year.

Gretchen: Well, the Australian Linguistic Society is also having its annual meeting in Adelaide in December, which I'm going to be at because I'm still in Australia. Our latest Patreon bonus episode is all about the academic conference circuit and how to make it work for you.

Lauren: I had a lot of fun in this episode. This is all of mine and Gretchen's favourite survival tips for navigating academic conferences. If you've never been to one before, or you've only been to a couple, they're lots of fun, and they can be even more fun.

Gretchen: Yes, so you can go to patreon.com/lingthusiasm to check those out, or lingthusiasm.com/merch for the merch. We’ll repeat those links at the end of the episode, so you don't have to write them down now.

[Music]

Gretchen: So, G and C are really weird letters because they're these two letters that, in a whole bunch of languages, often come with multiple sounds. You have the sounds in their names like /dʒ/ and /s/, and then you have other sounds like /g/ and /k/, and then even more sounds. These letters are so weird.

Lauren: I'm not known for being the most reliable when it comes to a spelling bee, and I feel like it's often letters like G and C that trip me up because they have so many different pronunciation disguises that they put on.

Gretchen: They really do. They especially do that in different languages. You can do a brief sample of this through different languages' words for “cheese.”

Lauren: Ooo, let's do a cross-linguistic cheese platter!

Gretchen: Cross-linguistic cheese tour! First, we have the Latin “caseus” (/kaseʊs/) meaning “cheese.” And this gives rise to a whole bunch of other words for “cheese” in different languages. You have English “cheese” (/tʃi:z/), you have German “Käse” (/ke:zə/), you have Spanish “queso” (/keso/).

Lauren: Yeah. Because I was like, “Well, in Italian you have ‘formaggio,’” which is like a completely different historical word. But then I remembered that my favourite Italian pasta from Rome is cacio (/katʃo/) e pepe and that's – the Italian-Latin word for “cheese” is still hidden in that very excellent pasta dish.

Gretchen: And then because I started thinking about this, I was looking up other languages’ word for “cheese,” and I saw the Dutch “kaas” (/kɑːs/), which, I don't speak any Dutch, but there's one Dutch word that I know which is “pindakaas,” and “pindakaas” literally translates as “peanut cheese.”

Lauren: Oh. Oh, hang on. Like peanut butter?

Gretchen: Yeah, so the Dutch word for “peanut butter” is literally translated as “peanut cheese,” which at first seems like, “This is maybe an interesting dish,” but then you're like, “Is ‘peanut butter’ really any better as a term for it?” Because it's still a dairy metaphor.

Lauren: Yeah, because I was like, “That's a weird choice,” but actually, it's not that different.

Gretchen: It's really not that different at all. Especially, if you think of a cream cheese, which is like a creamier cheese, maybe? Peanut butter is kind of creamy sometimes.

Lauren: I'm still gonna eat it no matter what it's called.

Gretchen: Then you have Irish “cáis” (/kɑːʃ/), which is also from Latin “caseus”. “Caseus” is spelled with a C and an S. They're pronounced /k/ and /s/.

Lauren: Yeah.

Gretchen: But “cheese” takes that initial /k/ and makes it /tʃ/. “Käse” and “queso” and “cacio” keep that initial /k/ sound at the beginning, but “cacio” changes the /s/ into /tʃ/.

Lauren: Yeah.

Gretchen: Dutch keeps it the way it was. And then Irish also changes the second one into “cáis” (/kɑːʃ/). Different languages have taken this one word that seemed like it had a fairly straightforward pronunciation and altered it in slightly different ways.

Lauren: I was trying to make a cheese metaphor about things, like, fermenting and going funky with age, but I guess this is why we’re a linguistics podcast and not a food podcast.

Gretchen: “Welcome to Lingthusiasm, a food podcast about linguistics.” And this is all this weird stuff that C gets up to between different languages, historically, and in different languages in the modern era. G does the same type of thing. If you were a kid, you might have learned about hard G and soft G, or hard C and soft C.

Lauren: I really struggle with the idea of hard C and soft C, and hard G and soft G. Just to help other people who might as well, hard G is the /g/ sound and soft G is when it's used more like /ʒ/.

Gretchen: Yes, /ʒ/ or /dʒ/, which is one of the reasons why this terminology is not generally linguist-approved.

Lauren: Yeah, I just – I think about, for example, when I was chatting with Suzy Styles on the work we do about how we have this cross-sensory idea and “hard” and “soft” as a metaphor just don't work for me for those sounds. Apologies if I leave Gretchen to do all of the explaining the difference between them today.

Gretchen: Well, I don't think I'm really going to use the terms either. I'm just gonna mention the specific sound because you see when it happens cross-linguistically, there's a lot more going on than just that. These are two letters that both have that hard-soft thing going on. We don't talk about “hard Q” and “soft Q,” or “hard P” and “soft P.”

Lauren: Yeah.

Gretchen: So why do these letters come in hard and soft versions, even if you can't remember which version is which? To do this, we need to also go back to the Romans.

Lauren: Yes, there were simpler times back in Old Latin.

Gretchen: The Latin alphabet comes from Greek, as a lot of people know. But this is one of things that always puzzled me as a kid – because I was a kid who was into the Greek alphabet – I was like, “Look, the Greeks have this letter, kappa, which stands for the K sound, and it looks like a K, and it's where we get the modern K. And they have this letter, gamma, which was very clearly supposed to be a G. Who invented the C? Why is it there, and why does it cause me so much trouble?”

Lauren: Yeah.

Gretchen: It turns out that this is explained by the Etruscans, who were people that didn't make a distinction between the /g/ sound and the /k/ sound, like the sound in “gamma” and the sound in “kappa.” They borrowed the Greek alphabet for their language, which we don't know very much about, but we know that they didn't care about the difference between gamma and kappa because they just borrowed one, which was gamma, and they used it for both because it didn't really matter for them. Then, the Romans actually didn't initially borrow their alphabet from the Greeks. They borrowed it from the Etruscans.

Lauren: Because the Etruscans were living on the Italian peninsula, so they just borrowed it from the locals.

Gretchen: Yeah, so they just borrowed it from the locals.

Lauren: I do love an ethically locally sourced alphabet, personally.

Gretchen: Nice, locally sourced alphabet. We have fragments of pottery from the Etruscans, but we don't know a whole lot about their language. We know it wasn't Indo-European because all the Indo-European languages do distinguish between the gamma and the kappa sounds. So the Romans borrow it from the Etruscans, and then they're left with like, “Oh, geez, we actually do want to make this distinction between these two sounds that we have, but the Etruscans don't have.”

Lauren: And so someone invented the letter G.

Gretchen: Like an actual person?

Lauren: Apparently. I mean, I'm quoting from Wikipedia.

Gretchen: Do we know their name?

Lauren: Apparently, his name was Spurius Carvilius Ruga, which definitely doesn't sound like a spurious name at all.

Gretchen: That's a really spurious name. So he invented the letter G?

Lauren: Yeah, so at this point the letter C was the third letter in the alphabet, still, and he was like, “Well, look, we have this /k/ sound.” K wasn't cool anymore as a letter to represent /k/. They were all using the rounded – what we think of as C now. He was like, “We need to make more of a distinction.” And so apparently – there are people who disagree with this, but I like this story about young Spurius – created the letter G and was like, “Now, we can make the distinction again.”

Gretchen: If you look at a capital G, it just looks like a C with an extra stroke added on to it, right?

Lauren: Yeah.

Gretchen: A gamma is like a right angle in the top left corner (Γ), and then you can curve it to make a C, and then you can add an extra stroke to make the G.

Lauren: So that's where the Romans got to. And he popped it in the alphabet in the seventh position, which is originally where a little Greek letter known as "zeta" used to live.

Gretchen: So is he responsible for the demotion of zeta as well?

Lauren: Yeah. I mean, well, no, Z also wasn't cool anymore, because the Romans didn't need it, so they never really borrowed it from the Greeks. Because, again, they got all their alphabet from the Etruscans. So the Romans weren't really down with –

Gretchen: Oh, that’s it. Okay.

Lauren: – zeta. They kind of had it there. He's was like, “Well, let's just drop that letter out, and we'll add this cool, new G thing that I invented.”

Gretchen: So he kicked out zeta and replaced it with G?

Lauren: Yeah.

Gretchen: That's great. I love that. Latin actually pronounced – all of their C’s and G’s were /k/ and /g/.

Lauren: Imagine doing a Latin spelling bee. It would be so great. I mean, I guess that’s why they don’t have spelling bees in most languages that have regular orthographies.

Gretchen: Yeah, so easy! You know, you have your classic Latin phrase "veni vidi vici" (/weni widi wiki/) “I came. I saw. I conquered.”

Lauren: I like that you’ve used the original Latin pronunciation there, so you sound a little bit ridiculous.

Gretchen: I'd always pronounced this /vɛni vidi vitʃi/, but then I had a Latin teacher who told me, “No, no, it's actually /weni widi wiki/," and it just sounds so foolish.

Lauren: Yes, every time I hear it. So that "vici" is the C – what we think of as C – being pronounced as /k/, as in the word for “cheese.”

Gretchen: Then, in Late Latin, everything starts to go wrong. And by “wrong,” I mean “great.”

Lauren: For the Empire as well as the language.

Gretchen: Yeah, the Empire was a bit messed up. But also the language started fragmenting and becoming all these different versions. In many of the different areas, people started pronouncing the C and the G in a different way, sometimes.

Lauren: I love the “sometimes” bit. We talk about the environment that sounds are in can make them change, adds a bit of context. And that's really where the fun and the messiness of language can really play out, when you have language changing over time.

Gretchen: Yeah, we need to talk about a particular area of the mouth. This is the roof of your mouth. I'm touching it right now, but you can't see me, because it's inside. This isn’t gonna be a very useful demonstration.

Lauren: If you have clean-enough hands, and you don't mind looking a bit ridiculous in public, you can turn the tip of your finger up to the ceiling and press it into the roof of your mouth or use your tongue.

Gretchen: This is the back part of the roof of your mouth. Not the front bit right behind your teeth, but the back bit by your molars. There's kind of a little lump there. This is known in linguistics as the “palate.” There's a whole bunch of sounds that involve the palate and involve some sort of constriction at the palate, the back part of the roof of your mouth.

Lauren: It's a big chunk of space. You've got that soft bit further towards the back that you might not want to prod if you have a sensitive gag reflex.

Gretchen: Yeah, we don’t advise that.

Lauren: And you have that hard bit closer to the teeth. There's a lot of space to play with there.

Gretchen: Yeah, so there's a lot of space. You can drop your jaw and let a lot of space happen there. What's crucial about the palate is it's a space where you can make both vowels and consonants. You could make an /i/ sound, and your tongue will be towards your palate. You can make a /j/ sound, and your tongue will be towards your palate. You could make a /ʃ/ sound, and your tongue will be towards your palate.

Lauren: I'm just sitting here quietly going “sh, sh, sh” to myself.

Gretchen: I was teaching a roomful of Intro to Linguistics students about the palate, and I was saying, “Okay, we're gonna make a distinction between where S is produced, which is towards the front of the roof of your mouth –" and we don't call that the “palate,” we we use the “palate” just refer to the back part of the roof of your mouth – “and the /ʃ/ sound, which is on the palate or near the palate." I was getting the room to say “sss,” “shh,” “sss,” “shh,” back and forth. Then, I was like, “You guys thought you were enrolled in Intro to Linguistics, but you're actually enrolled in Intro to Parseltongue.”

Lauren: The very “sss-shh”-y sounds of the snake language of Harry Potter, for the three of you out there who aren't familiar. If you don't feel like making these sounds, or you want to see what other people's tongues are doing, as always with these episodes, I'm linking you to one of my favourite websites, which is where they stuck a bunch of phoneticians in an MRI machine, and you can see their tongues doing all these things, if you just click on the column of sounds called Palatals.

Gretchen: That's great. I like that website so much. So the palatals, and the /dʒ/ sound is also towards the palatals. At least it's a lot more similar to the palatals than /k/ and /g/.

Lauren: In contrast, /k/ and /g/ are made a bit further back from the palate, closer towards the back of the mouth.

Gretchen: If you’re just thinking about these palatal sounds, the thing is that because there are both vowels and consonants that can be palatal, and you have a vowel that's produced near the palate, and a consonant near it, the vowel tends to attract the consonant and make it more palatal and make it more similar to each other, because humans like to be efficient about these things.

Lauren: Even if you don't remember any terminology, and you certainly don't have to, the takeaway here is that our mouths are very good at being lazy, and they will strive to do as little moving as possible. It's like, “If I'm already there for the vowel, why am I taking myself all the way to the back of the palate? I'm just gonna hang here.” I'm always happy to celebrate laziness.

Gretchen: These palatal vowels, these vowels that are produced near the palate, tend to pull certain consonants with them. This is what happened to the /k/ and the /g/ sound.

Lauren: And it didn't necessarily happen the same way in all the different languages that descend from Latin.

Gretchen: Right, so in French, which is probably the most familiar to English because we borrowed a lot of words from French – so, sometimes you have /k/ becoming /s/ in English from Latin, sometimes you have it becoming /tʃ/ in English from Latin. You have things like “caseus” becoming “cheese,” but also something like “circus" (/kirkus/) becoming “circus” (/sɝkəs/). All those /k/’s get pulled more towards the roof of the mouth.

Lauren: But only if the vowel is luring them there, right? If the vowel isn't near that palatal bit, if the vowel is already back where the /k/ is, then it just stays there.

Gretchen: Yeah, so that's the thing. In a word like “circus” the /k/ is before an I, which was pronounced /i/, /sirkus/, whereas, the second C is before a U and that one stays /sirkus/, not /sirsus/.

Lauren: I like how I’m like, “/sirkus/ sounds completely normal. /sirsus/ sounds very wrong.”

Gretchen: Yeah, /sirsus/ is just like, “No, that didn't happen.” So, /i/ and /e/, which became I and E in English, are the ones that tend to pull the consonants towards them. Whereas /u/ and /o/ and /a/ are the ones that let the constant stay where they want to be.

Lauren: Which solves a mystery of – I mean, spelling bees are entirely mysterious to me, as I think we've established – but it solves that mystery of spelling bees, because I was always like, “Why would you ask...” – because you can ask in a spelling bee the origin of a word. And so if you ask like, “I have to spell the word 'circus.' Please, spelling bee master, tell me the origin of the word.” If I know it's a Latin word, like, “Well, that means it probably is C-I and not K-I, because originally it was probably /kirkus/”

Gretchen: Yeah, because you don't have K's in Latinate words because all of their C's changed when they were in front of an I or an E.

Lauren: Yeah.

Gretchen: This also explains why there's some disagreement about how to pronounce the word “Celtic.”

Lauren: Oh, yeah, there's a really great post by Stan Carey that goes into the history of this, but – I don't know. I have to think really hard if I say /kɛltɪk/ or /sɛltɪk/. But I think I say /kɛltɪk/.

Gretchen: I definitely say /kɛltɪk/, but there's some sports team that's correctly pronounced /sɛltɪk/, because that's what people say when they talk about the sports team?

Lauren: Right.

Gretchen: I've definitely heard people say /sɛltɪk/. This is one of those ones where if you're obeying the Latinate rules, you're like, “Well, C-E, that must mean that the C is pronounced like an S.” And yet – because when Irish and Scottish Gaelics borrowed the Latin alphabet, it also hadn't had this sound change happen yet. All the C's were still pronounced like /k/, so all of the C's in Gaelic are hard. And so “Celt” /kɛlt/ is – there's no K in Gaelic. The C's are all pronounced /k/.

Lauren: Right.

Gretchen: So if you use the Gaelic pronunciation, then it's /kɛlt/, but if you're looking at it, and you're like, “Well, but I thought my rule was the C gets pronounced like S," then it's /sɛlt/.

Lauren: Which brings us to another major scandal in terms of how words are pronounced, which is, of course, the word that I say as /dʒɪbəɹɪʃ/ (gibberish).

Gretchen: And the word that I said on a previous episode as /gɪbəɹɪʃ/ because – I don't know. Why not say it that way?

Lauren: Yeah, I – to be honest – had not paid much attention to your pronunciation, but we had quite a few people draw attention to the fact that we have different pronunciations for this word.

Gretchen: Yeah, and this is the same thing like with /dʒɪf/ and /gɪf/ (GIF) where –

Lauren: Which is definitely not a major argument at all.

Gretchen: No, no one cares about that one on the internet. I've never heard any argument about it. With the G's, when we get a word from French, or from Latin, or from Italian, or sometimes from Spanish – but generally, Spanish, that's its own thing – we tend to pronounce that G as a /dʒ/ or a /ʒ/ like in “rouge.” But when we get it from a different language, we often pronounce it as a /g/ instead.

Lauren: Yeah.

Gretchen: So of course, when we get it from an acronym like with GIF, all bets are off, really. There's no statistical bias in either direction.

Lauren: We have been talking exclusively about C and G, but they are not the only letters that cause me grief with spelling, which is fundamentally about palatalisation. There are other sounds in English that are also very attracted to the palate.

Gretchen: Yeah, and these are both /t/ and /d/, T and D, and /s/ and /z/, or S and Z. They're pronounced more towards the front of the palate, but, again, if they're in front of an /i/ or an /e/ sound, they tend to get pulled back towards the palate instead of pulled forward. They all get pulled toward the centre of the mouth.

Lauren: The palate is like the black hole at the centre of the mouth universe.

Gretchen: It's got gravity pulling everything towards it. Yeah, it's a very attractive place. I think it's also kind of a very easy place to say because it's just right there in the middle. So it could be anything. You don't have to go to a lot of effort to make it happen.

Lauren: Yeah, the tongue is just kind of going straight up from its neutral spot. What kind of examples do we see with these letters?

Gretchen: There's some ones that are really old that are embedded into English spelling, words like “station” and “ratio” with that T-I-O-N ending. They were at one point pronounced like /statiʌn/ and /ratio/.

Lauren: Again, would have made spelling tests a lot easier.

Gretchen: Way easier, /ratio/! The Romans said this. But /ratʃio/, /io/ gets shortened into /raʃio/ or /steʃiʌn/ and eventually gets /steʃʌn/ and /reʃio/, and other words like that. Then there's also some that are super new, and they're not even reflected in standard English spelling. They're only in representations of informal speech. That's the words like "didja?"

Lauren: As in, “Didja find out any good facts about palatalisation? Yes, I did.”

Gretchen: Yeah! If you have “did” and “you” – well, “you” can become “ya,” obviously. Then that "ya" sound, the Y at the beginning, it's also palatal, so it can pull the D towards /dɪdʒə/. I went to . a really great restaurant when I was in New York City a couple months ago, which was pointed out to me by someone on Twitter as a linguistically interesting restaurant that I should go to. It is called “Jeet Jet.”

Lauren: “Jeet Jet?”

Gretchen: “Jeet Jet,” spelled J-E-E-T J-E-T.

Lauren: Oh, as in, “Did you eat yet?”

Gretchen: Yeah.

Lauren: “Jeet Jet.”

Gretchen: “Jeet Jet?”

Lauren: That was great. Everything is just lapsing into the palatal centre.

Gretchen: So palatal! It's a palatal palace of food.

Lauren: This is why we're not a food podcast.

Gretchen: Every so often when I used to mark linguistics papers for Intro to Linguistics, you’d get somebody who would write – instead of “palatal,” they'd write “palatial.”

Lauren: Did you draw a little palace?

Gretchen: It sounds like it’s a little palace! But also, why is it not “palatial” because “palatial” is actually the palatised version of “palatal?”

Lauren: It makes sense. We might have to let the language kick on for another couple of centuries to let that process happen.

Gretchen: What's really cool about palatals is that they keep going with the trajectories of the language. In French and Italian, the C's and G's became /dʒ/and /ʒ/ and /ʃ/ and /s/, and that's pretty well-established. In Spanish, they did this other thing. The Spanish C in front of E or I went to /θ/ in Spain, like "cerveza" (/θerbeθa/), and to /s/ in South America like /serbesa/. The J, and G, and also the X – they’re now like a /h/ sound, like in "Xavier” (/havier/). But they stopped for a while at a /ʃ/ sound. For a while, this X in Spanish was pronounced /ʃ/.

Lauren: Hmm, just hung out there for a while?

Gretchen: Yeah, you can see that trajectory happening. It happened at a very specific point in Spanish history, because this point when X was being pronounced /ʃ/ also happened right around when the Spanish conquerors were first coming in contact with Nahuatl speakers in Central America. In Nahuatl, there was a sound /ʃ/, and the Spanish speakers were like, “Well, we have a letter to represent /ʃ/. It's an X. We're going to use the X to represent /ʃ/ like we do in our own language.” They transcribed certain Nahuatl words, like the word “Mexico” – /meʃiko/ – perfectly reasonably.

Lauren: Yeah.

Gretchen: But then Spanish kept changing, and not a lot of people spoke Nahuatl, and so /meʃiko/ became /mehiko/, because the X sound was shifted from /ʃ/ to /h/.

Lauren: And so “Mexico,” did the pronunciation of it – just went with it even though it was meant to be /ʃ/?

Gretchen: A representation of the Nahuatl word.

Lauren: Ah, there you go.

Gretchen: Other languages looked at it – like English looked at the spelling of this word and said, “Well, you have an X there. We have an X.”

Lauren: “We pronounce it /ks/."

Gretchen: “Here's how we pronounce the X.” And this is where we get /mɛksɪko/, but it's actually an attempt at representing this Nahuatl sound, but then Spanish changed out from under it.

Lauren: It reminds me of when “Beijing” was updated from the older word, “Peking.” We still have “Peking” in “Peking Duck,” and you have that /k/ there in the “-king.” When it was updated, it becomes “-jing,” because over the centuries since it was originally written down, palatalisation has occurred in Mandarin Chinese.

Gretchen: Oh, that's so good! I just thought the Europeans are really incompetent at transcribing things.

Lauren: I mean, the Europeans were pretty incompetent, and I'm sure that was part of the problem. But you actually have that palatalisation happening in Mandarin as well. It's not just an Indo-European phenomenon.

Gretchen: Oh, so there's just a sound change happening in Mandarin as well at the same time. That's so good.

Lauren: Yeah.

Gretchen: There's also a really interesting historical example of other languages doing palatalisation, because once you can spot palatalisation, you can find it everywhere. It's in so many languages. I'd be honestly more surprised to find a language that had never done any sort of palatalisation – that hadn’t done it – than I would be surprised to find it in another language. Bantu languages, which are spoken in a wide swath of Africa, they have a set of prefixes that go at the beginning of certain nouns and verbs to indicate which category the nouns belong to, in a very, very simple explanation of that. One of these prefixes is used before a noun to make it the language related to that noun.

Lauren: Right.

Gretchen: So you have things like – in the Congo, the language that’s spoken is Kikongo.

Lauren: Yeah.

Gretchen: In Rwanda, the language that’s spoken is Kinyarwanda. In Botswana, the language that spoken is Setswana. What's really interesting here is that this prefix, you can tell it's started out as /ki/, but in some languages it's become /tʃi/ or /ʃi/ or /si/ or /se/. You can tell that's because this palatal vowel has brought it more towards the vowel. So you have Kiswahili, but isiZulu or isiXhosa], or Tshivenda. Some of them still have the /ki/, some of them have changed it to /si/ or /tʃi/. You can see this relationship because they all have the same prefix, but it's changed differently because the sound changes have happened differently in the different languages.

Lauren: Exactly the same set of changes as we get with our cheeses of Europe.

Gretchen: The same cheese-changes. I have a very vivid memory about when I first learned about palatalisation. This was when I went to Scottish Gaelic summer camp when I was 10 or 12?

Lauren: The thing is we don't have summer camps in Australia. So I find all summer camps mysterious. I'm like, “Of course, you went on summer camp for Gaelic. Like, that's that weird thing that North Americans do. They go on summer camp.”

Gretchen: It is not very common to go on summer camp for Gaelic. Most of the other kids that were there, were there to learn, like, fiddle, or step dance, or something, which is still fairly rare. Most people go, like, canoeing or something.

Lauren: Okay.

Gretchen: But I was a budding linguist, and I wanted to learn Gaelic. So when I was learning Gaelic, they told me about this distinction between broad vowels and slender vowels. This is super important in Gaelic and in Irish as well, because a whole bunch of consonants in Gaelic change the way they're pronounced depending on which vowels they’re next to.

Lauren: Right.

Gretchen: So you end up with all these silent vowels where the vowel itself is silent, but it's just being used to tell you how to pronounce the consonant that it's next to.

Lauren: This is a bit like when I realised the reason you don't hear, in Spanish or in English – the word “guitar,” you don't hear that U – is because Spanish uses U in the same way there, to indicate that it should be a /g/ and not a /ʒɪtɑɹ/.

Gretchen: Exactly, it means the same U that's in, like, "Guillaume" to indicate that that is a /g/ – or in “guerre,” “guerrilla,” for “war.”

Lauren: Yeah, it was a complete revelation for me when I was like, “I'm not meant to – the U is just there to help me, not to hinder me.”

Gretchen: Yeah, it's to help you according to a completely different system that you only understand incompletely.

Lauren: Yeah.

Gretchen: This is the same thing for Gaelic. If you have a word, “fáilte,” which is the word for "welcome," and the last two letters are T-E, the way you know that that T is pronounced like a /tʃ/ is because there's an E next to it. Or if you have names like “Sean,” or “Sinead,” or “Siobhan,” the way that you know that that S is pronounced like a /ʃ/ is because it has an E or an I next to it.

Lauren: Just, like, “Come with me towards the palate.”

Gretchen: This is the kind of thing that they teach you in Gaelic 101. They’re like, “Here's the broad vowels. Here's the slender vowels. Here's why they're so important,” because they tell you how to do this with all your consonants. And yet, afterwards, I was like, “But English also kind of does this. Because if you have a word like “circus,” the way that you know how each of the C's is pronounced is based on the same distinction between what Gaelic traditionally calls “broad” and “slender” vowels, but we can call “palatal” or “non-palatal” vowels. The slender vowels in Gaelic are the same thing as a palatal vowel, or a front vowel to use the proper linguistic term. All of those are the same class of things that all cause the same types of sound changes. The “broad” vowels, or the “non-palatal” vowels, or the “back” vowels are all the same category of stuff that doesn't cause the sound change. And that totally rocked my world when I figured it out the first time.

Lauren: I think the thing is, given my general spelling issues, even though I have trouble with spelling, I really appreciate that palatalisation makes pronouncing things easier. In many ways, it's really great that the writing system we have captures this history of how these sounds were all the way back to Latin, all the way back to our friend Spurius, and they're there to help us.

Gretchen: Yeah, it makes certain connections easier to see. A word like “electric,” “electricity,” the C is still there, and when you add an I on to it with the “-ity” ending, you can see it change pronunciation. You can see the connections between those words more straightforwardly. Whereas, if there was a K at the end, you wouldn't necessarily know that it was one that was going to change its pronunciation if an I was added to it. I think what fascinates me about palatalisation is it's one of the ways in which linguistics lets us peer deeply into the soul of a language, or into history of a language, and into the connections between languages, and lets us think of these things that we think of as messy and anomalous as actually a unified part of our shared anatomy across all of the spoken languages that we have this in common, which is that we all find it easier to pronounce things in a certain area of our mouths the same. That makes us part of this really big human story in what seems to be just annoying ways to spell things.

[Music]

Lauren: For more Lingthusiasm, and links to all the things mentioned in this episode, go to lingthusiasm.com. You can listen to us on Apple podcasts, iTunes, Google Podcasts, SoundCloud, or wherever else you get your podcasts. We're also now on Spotify, so if you use that, you can find us there. You can follow us at @Lingthusiasm on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Tumblr. And you can get IPA scarves, IPA ties, and other Lingthusiasm merch at lingthusiasm.com/merch. I tweet and blog as Superlinguo.

Gretchen: I can be found as @GretchenAMcC on Twitter, and my blog is AllThingsLinguistic.com. To listen to bonus episodes, ask us your linguistics questions, help keep the show ad-free, go to patreon.com/lingthusiasm or follow the links from our website. Recent bonus topics include: hyperforeignisms, multilingual babies, homonyms, and how to have a good time at academic conferences. You could help us pick the next topic by becoming a patron. Can't afford to pledge? That's okay too. We also really appreciate it if you can recommend Lingthusiasm to anyone who needs a little more linguistics in their life. Especially this month, we're doing our special anniversary round to help the show grow.

Lauren: Lingthusiasm is created and produced by Gretchen McCulloch and Lauren Gawne, our audio producer is Claire Gawne, our editorial producers are A.E. Prévost and Sarah Dopierala, and our editorial manager is Emily Gref, Our production assistants are Celine Yoon and Fabianne Anderberg. Our music is by The Triangles. Stay lingthusiastic!

[Music]

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

[janiedean]

meme #1

rules answer 22 questions & tag 22 people you want to know better

tagged by @thebluelemontree ty! <3

nickname(s): lavi, janie

zodiac sign: leo

height: 165 cm

last movie i saw: in the cinema mary poppins returns (I think??), not in the cinema...... dunno probably finding dory but I’m 100% sure I mixed stuff up, january was a shit month /o\

last thing i googled: penny dreadful finale recap

favourite musician: do I have to pick one? ah screw it, band: bon jovi, single artist: bruce springsteen

song stuck in my head: the outsider, shooter jennings

other blogs: I have three exchange ones + the ironfistweek one + @thefemaleghostoftomjoad which at some point I’ll update again and I have a few urls saved but I mainly use this one

following: 1492

followers: 3224 (guys thanks for sticking by xD)

do i get asks: yes!

amount of sleep i get:  usually seven hours

lucky numbers: meh, 2? I mean it’s my favorite number that’s about it xD

what i’m wearing: dark trousers, springsteen 2016 tour t-shirt, black sweater

dream job: pls make me a published author or let me run a record shop (hahahahah.gif)

dream trip: US road trip

favourite food: pasta with pesto sauce, sachertorte, montblanc, most lemon or strawberry-based sweets tbqh

instruments: I can read (VERY basically) a music sheet and I can play the bass very badly

languages: italian, english, I can get by in french, basic german

favourite songs: oh god is this asking me my top five songs? WHY? IT’S A HARD CHOICE? anyway okay I’ll just go for favorite song from top ten favorite artists before this gets long af xD bon jovi - these days (ps: favorite song ever period), bruce springsteen - the ghost of tom joad (on odd days it can be no surrender but that’s the one I’d get inked so I guess it wins xD), led zeppelin - tangerine, the lonesome death of hattie carroll - bob dylan, warren zevon - don’t let us get sick, the doors - when the music’s over, patti smith - gloria, queen - hammer to fall, stone temple pilots - atlanta, the beatles - a day in the life plus bonus because ONE BAND POST-2000 SHOULD BE IN THIS, the gaslight anthem - film noir

random fact: I cry at movies all the damned time but very rarely for obvious-to-go tearjerkers - like, I don’t cry at romantic tragic movies or at stuff that wants you to but I cry 99% of the time on war movies to say one X°D (the only romance stuff that makes me cry is la traviata but there’s a reason why I decided I’m never going to that one opera anymore X°D)

aesthetic: as in, what I wear? like, half of the time I’m straight jeans + band or fandom t-shirts and looking like I just walked out of a gig in the year of the lord 1986, the other I tend to go for like... actually fairly feminine stuff ie summer dresses/bright-ish colors/a lot of pink and I prefer sandals to most other shoes but I’ll wear boots in the winter rather than anything else, I tend to wear cheap jewelry 80% of the time (the other 20% is gifts so not cheap). I also own a flower crown but I only bring it up in situations where it wouldn’t look weird lol aaaand I occasionally wear men’s clothes too because a) they’re comfortable, b) I like the aesthetic effect (I have a bunch of flannels my dad doesn’t wear and some of his old stuff as well) and one of my favorite coats is a columbo male-cut beige trenchcoat that’s going into my grave with me okay X°D

oh god do I have 22 people who might wanna do it? ah well guys I’m tagging if you don’t feel like it don’t mind me XD @moviestorian @widevibratobitch @viendiletto @feanoriel @naivesilver @shaggy-goblin @roombagreyjoy @bidonica @naomileyers @wolflec @aryagreenapple @wynafryd-manderly @blueagia @ofwickedlight @myhamsterisademon @weirdisbetterthanormal @myrxellabaratheon aaaand idk I lost count X°D if you wanna do it feel free to XD

[iarmandostuff-blog]

Traveling and Tourism

Traveling into a city, town or village is a means of getting exposure to the new world even for a second. As we spend time on our travel destination it exposes us to a new culture, language, new experience, new friends and the room to tolerate one another and handle our differences. This may our passion to take another trip to another destination.

Traveling to Italy

With 58.3 million tourists a year (2017), Italy is the fifth most visited country in international tourism arrivals. People mainly visit Italy for its rich culture, cuisine, history, fashion and art, its beautiful coastline and beaches, its mountains, and priceless ancient monuments. Italy also contains more World Heritage Sites than any other country in the world. Tourism is one of Italy's fastest-growing and most profitable industrial sectors, with an estimated revenue of €189.1 billion.

The Colosseum in Rome, Italy, one of the most popular tourist attractions in the world

Traveling to Italy is a lot of fun to many as well as I will also love to take a tour and experience for many reasons, some of which will be listed below.

sites of attraction

Florence: This city is the rightful birthplace of the Renaissance and is loaded with wonderful art, architecture, and some of the finest museums in the world, the Uffizi and the Galleria dell’ Accademia. Florence truly is of the most beautiful cities in the world.

Venice: Venice is that it’s old, sinking into the lagoon, floods occasionally, and sometimes smells. What other cities on this planet can claim a list like this and still be one of the most sought after destinations in the world? Maybe everyone wants to visit Venice before it disappears into the Adriatic and becomes the lost city of Venice?

Cinque Terre: This beautiful coastal region of Italy is simply spectacular. Its five villages are all unique and connected by a network of trails that vary in difficulty and distance. And if hiking is not your thing, don’t despair— the local train connects all five villages, as does the local ferry system, except for Corniglia, which is perched high up on a cliff above the sea.

If you love seafood, then you have certainly come to the right place. Tourism, fishing, and farming the terraced hillsides are the only industries here. If you want to see one of the most beautiful coastlines in the world, then add Cinque Terre to your list of must-see places.

Inventions

Cars

Italy is the birthplace of some of the world’s most famous car brands, including Alfa Romeo, Fiat, Lamborghini, and Maserati. Italian automotive design is coveted by petrolheads the world over for its beauty, exclusivity, and performance. Take Ferrari, for example – the company began as a race car manufacturer in 1939 and is now the gold standard for aspirational autos. In 2012 they sold just 8,000 cars but made record net profits of €537 million (£484.5 million).

Art

Italy’s contribution to the art world is immeasurable. Works by Giotto, Michelangelo, Leonardo Da Vinci, Titian, Caravaggio, and Bernini are among the most recognizable and most celebrated in the world. Not just limited to paintings and sculptures in museums, artistic wonders can be found everywhere in Italy – in churches, castles, historical residences – and in the architecture of the country itself.

Fashion

Italy’s first internationally recognized fashion show took place in Florence in 1951. These days though, Milan is considered Italy’s main sartorial hub and the city’s high-end shopping district, known as the Quadrilatero d’Oro, is home to some of the world’s biggest luxury brands. Prada, Gucci, Versace, Armani, Dolce & Gabbana, and Valentino are all headquartered there.

Sports

Football

Football, or il Calcio, is taken very seriously in Italy. Teams from the top league, Serie A, attract some of the world’s best (and most well-paid) players, while the national team, known as the Azzurri, have won the World Cup four times. Their 2018 defeat against Sweden was met with disbelief and marked the first time in 40 years they failed to qualify for the tournament.

Explorers

Amerigo Vespucci, Marco Polo, John Cabot and, the most famous explorer of all, Christopher Columbus, all hailed from Italy. The Italians played a big part in the Age of Discovery, exploring the world in search of trade, wealth and knowledge. Though Columbus was born in the Republic of Genova he sailed on behalf of Spain.

People

People of Italy are warm and hospitable, though there are unscrupulous types who will pick your pocket if the opportunity arises, this can be said of almost any city. Just be sure to always be aware of your surroundings.

Italian cuisine

No one area of Italy eats the same things as the next. Each region has its own spin on "Italian food," according to CNN. For example, most of the foods that Americans view as Italian, such as spaghetti and pizza, come from central Italy. Italian cuisine has influenced food culture around the world and is viewed as a form of art by many. Wine, cheese, and pasta are an important part of Italian meals. In the North of Italy, fish, potatoes, rice, sausages, pork and different types of cheeses are the most common ingredients.

Religion

Religion in Italy is characterized by the predominance of Christianity and increasing diversity of religious practices, beliefs, and denominations. Most Christians in Italy adhere to the Catholic Church, whose headquarters are in Vatican City, Rome. 71.4% of Italians ascribe to Christianity making it the dominant religion in the country with Catholicism being the majority Christian denomination. Other Christian denominations include Orthodox, Jehovah's Witness, Protestant, and Methodists. The Catholic Church accounts for 93% of all Christians in Italy.

Mountains and Lakes

The mountains and lakes might not be the first thing that comes to mind when considering a visit to Italy but they are reason enough to start planning that trip. From the stunning Dolomites in the northeast to the Italian Alps in the north, this is a playground for those of you who love to hike, bike, and ski. And dotted among the valleys of these majestic mountains are some of the most picturesque lakes in all of Italy.

ConclusionWith all the above exciting features, one will love to travel and take a tour in Italy. Though there are still many others which are not mentioned.

References

https://wanderwisdom.com/travel-destinations/10-Really-Good-Reasons-to-Visit-Italy

https://www.livescience.com/44376-italian-culture.html

https://theculturetrip.com/europe/italy/articles/10-things-italy-is-famous-for/

[rosaliehale]

tag game

I was tagged by @steponmygowns

Nickname(s): jessica, jess, some people call me jessy?

Gender: female

Zodiac: gemini

Height: 5’2

Time: 9:29 pm

Where I’m from: pennsylvania

Hogwarts house: ravenclaw

Favorite show: big little lies, designated survivor currently

Favorite animal: ummmm.... idk bees are cool and so are penguins?

Favorite band/artist: selena quintanilla, queen, taylor swift, bon jovi, adam lambert

Song stuck in my head: cold little heart by michael kiwanuka

Last movie I saw: literally watched the lizzie mcguire movie today yolo

Last thing I googled: sims 4 jackets lkajsdf

Other blogs: i have a taylor swift live audio blog, a carrie underwood gif blog, and a designated survivor blog

Do I get asks?: not usually

Why this username: cause i love taylor and i mean all her tours are iconic and i wanted to match natasha

Number of blankets: 2

Followers: 1,440 but a ton are spam blogs so

Following: 627

Average amount of sleep: 8 sometimes 9 hours cause i love my sleep

Lucky number: 11, 13, 17

What am I wearing: a too large for me duck dynasty shirt my friend randomly gave me and sweat pants lkajsdf

Dream job: idk man something not too people-y like a librarian maybe or behind the scenes with history or like i’d love to own a record shop but im poor so

Dream trips: corpus christi, texas, england, australia

Favorite food: um food is not my friend but idk i like this veggie pasta stuff i buy frozen lkjasfd 

Instruments I can play: none

Eye color: blue

Hair color: brown

Aesthetic: lkjasdf idk man i like pastels and soft colors and flowers and records and polaroids and fairy lights and books especially old leather bound books its like, a very broad aesthetic

Languages I speak: english and trying but failing to learn spanish

Most iconic song: oh god i cannot pick just one? like, fat bottomed girls, we will rock you, we are the champions, dreaming of you, i could fall in love, bidi bidi bom bom, so many are iconic?

When I created this account: ughhh, i think i made this account in 2011? somewhere near there lkajsdf 

Why I created this account: one of my school friends was on my ass to make an account and then she deleted and i found my way around and now im stuck in this hell hole

Best memory: probably seeing taylor swift live for the first time

Best pun: im bad at puns idk man lkjasdf

Random fact: i was born with 3 kidneys and the third one was backflushing so i had to get it removed as well as 2/3 of my left kidney at 5 months old and the doctors had never seen that before so they got permission from ma parents to tape the surgery

I tag these 5 people ; @1989worldtour @speaknowtourlive @minipsychologist

[fremantleauniquedestination]

All About Fremantle

Situated at a 30 minutes distance from the Perth City, this little town Fremantle, has long been known for the eclectic blend of arty and unconventional types. Fremantle's lanes buzz with the music of buskers, the sidewalks filled with a wild assortment of music and art floating out from hip cafés and pubs. Take a break and choose the best from an excellent range of accommodation choices for family-friendly to lone backpackers and numerous luxurious hotels.

Fremantle was recently entitled to one of the best travel magazines among the Best destination for Travel in Australia. The modern Lonely Planet travel guide has placed Fremantle on the 7th place among best cities in the world, after the Kotor in Montenegro, still ahead of the 10th ranked Rome. Western Australia was also recorded among the most valued destinations recently in the year 2016.

Getting around Fremantle

Fremantle is among the coolest cities in the globe that can be easily explored by walk or bike. Most of the prominent attractions are situated at a walking distance to each other and the Fremantle Train Station. The free service of Fremantle CAT bus concludes regular routes around the major city stopping centres at well-known places of concern offering stress-free access to main attractions and places. An easy option for tourists to get nearby places is that they can take Fremantle Tram Tour that concludes regular tours of the town with instructive commentary. Visitors can also hire guide for a guided tour or take a bike tour starting from the Fremantle Visitor Centre.

Dining and entertainment in Fremantle

Fremantle has many streets buzzing with pubs, restaurants, small bars and cafes full to the top with customers from all over the world. Wander around the 'Cappuccino Strip', South Terrace and Wray Avenue for sparkling cafes or make a visit to one of the chic micro-breweries that offer an incredible variety of delicious amber ales.

The multicultural mix of Fremantle is most apparent in its dining places. Where you will find a strong Italian effect produces of a wide variety of pasta and pizza restaurants, whereas Indian, Asian and an entire host of additional cuisine can be also seen settled among winding streets Fremantle. You can also enjoy some of the most popular local seafood restaurants of the state scattered around vibrant Fishing Boat Harbour of Fremantle that makes is the perfect spot to taste the Indian Ocean's abundance.

Fremantle is well known for the wonderful nightlife, where numerous pubs, clubs, and bars play live music till the early morning hours. If the energy still remains and you want some more before you plan to leave the cafés or club, check it as it may still remain open for a morning tea or coffee. Arts and shopping 

Shopping and art scene lovers are provided in Fremantle with amazing art ranges from highbrow galleries to Indigenous projects.

[distraughtpigeon]

THONG LO & EKKAMI

[4K] Walk of Sukhumvit Soi 63 & Soi 55

Lᴜᴋᴇ Wᴀʟᴋs around the EKKAMAI and THONGLO BTS area in Bangkok, Thailand in [4k] with NO COMMENTARY. 1hour walk down Sukhumvit Soi 63, Sukhumvit Soi 44 and across Thong Lo Soi 10 and shares what Ekkamai and Thong Lor areas have to offer in [4K], on the afternoon of the Sunday, 18th of July 2021. 1hr walk | 60min tour | Bangkok, Thailand | NO commentary Luke's PLACES OF INTEREST in the EKKAMAI and THONGLO areas and also Luke's 1hr WALKING ROUTE has been mapped out and shared on GOOGLE MAPS: https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edi...

PLACES OF INTEREST:

Ekkamai BTS Station | Sukhumvit Rd, Phra Khanong, Khlong Toei, Bangkok 10110 | สถานีรถไฟฟ้าเอกมัย | ถ. สุขุมวิท แขวง พระโขนง เขตคลองเตย กรุงเทพมหานคร 10110 Thong Lo BTS Station | Sukhumvit Rd, Khlong Tan Nuea, Watthana, Krung Thep Maha Nakhon 10110 ting

Clock Wine Bar and Italian Restaurant

Major Cineplex Sukhumvit

Science Center for Education and Planetarium

Eastern Bus Terminal Bangkok Ekkamai

THE COFFEE CLUB - Ekkamai

Gateway Ekkamai

Move On Ekkamai

Vela bkk

Baan Somtum Sukhumvit

Bourbon Street Restaurant & Oyster Bar

Boutique Hotel

ENTERTAINMENT JAPANESE DINING 【TEPPEN】 ร้านอาหารญี่ปุ่น เอนเตอร์เทนเม้นไดนิ่ง 【เท็ปเป็น 】

hide away cafe

Iron Balls Distillery & Bar

Orihara Shoten

Ekamai Beer House

Ink & Lion

Hom Duan Wine&Grill

EL FARO Bangkok Cuisine de Garden Barefood Bangkok

Counting Sheep Corner

Fill In The Blank

Quaint

PLANTIFUL

Kim Jeong Grill

Honey Bear Bistro

HOTSPOT

Ms. Maria & Mr. Singh

63 Music House Ekamai

Miyagawa Kitchen 宮川キッチン

Tamnak Isan Ekamai unFashion Café - Ekamai soi 10

(un)FASHION Vintage Collection

Ekkamai Shopping Mall

KIKI CAMP BKK T

he Lab bar Ekkamai

The Cassette Music Bar

Bang Bang Bang

Perhaps Rabbits'

KHAO (Ekkamai Branch)

Steps with Theera

Mikkeller Bangkok

Mother May I Kitchen

Accidental Butcher

Chef's Table by Chef Art

SLO cafe

Cafe Thieves & Bar

THE Mud BAR เอกมัย12

響 HIBIKI Omakase & Bar

Olive Bangkok

Onion

Bird of Yoga

TEALILY CAFE EKKAMAI

เอสคาเป้

ESCAPE Ekamai 12

Broken Eggs - Gastrobar

DONKI Mall Thonglor-Ekamai

Nunglen-Lab

On The Table (Donki Mall)

Mitoki japanese restaurant

Thonglor Official Patisserie

Rosie

SNAIL Thonglor

BARBARBAR

YELLO

Funky Villa

Dirty Bar

kuro house

TDERM

Escobar

dad garden

DND

Thay Ekkamai

TONE EKAMAI

Bliss Ekkamai

Urban Music Bar

เตาถ่าน

Taotaan Yakiniku

Paradise Kohi Roastery & Coffee Bar

Seeds & Sunshine

Kohi Roastery & Coffee Bar

Thay Ekkamai

K BOMB Korean Bar

SYNC Ekkamai

The Mud Bar Restaurant

Stage Zakka Shop & cafe'

House of Susan

Croissant (Ekkamai 24)

Yellow Spoon

CRIME BKK

Cheesecake House & Restaurant

BAKT cafe (Ekkamai 21-Thonglor 20)

Tuba

Graham.studio

KAIZEN

Pacamara Coffee

Roaster x Specialty Coffee Lab

Bottoms up Thonglor

Shades of Retro

Flat+White cafe

12 × 12

Royal Enfield Thonglor

Brainwake Cafe Thonglor

Bluebird Jazz Bar

Beer Belly Beer Belly

Little Donkey

Bkk Evil Man Blues

BADMOTEL

THE COMMONS

TBC - The Beer Cap

Roots at Thong

lor

Wine Republic Bangkok

Chill

inda house

gram Pancakes Thonglor

Arno's Thonglor

Lao Dtom Lao

Wanderlust

rooftop bar

六九麺バンコク

RockmenBKK

69麺 69men

FITMEAL

Café @13

Wine|Dine

Ruu Music Bar

Yoshibar

BITTERSMITH

The Missing Burro

La Dotta Pasta Bar & Store (Thonglor)

Atmos Thonglor 10

Beast & Butter

Hummus

Heads

Thonglor 10

The Blooming Gallery

Supanniga Eating Room, Thonglor

토담(Todam KoreanB.B.Q)

Bungkumhouse Records

Little Latte Cafe

What The Cup

AINU Bar

Baan Ice

Rabbit Hole

Canvas

The Old English

Pub Caesar Castle

Bar Khua Kling

Pak Sod

Sushi Masa

Sit and Wonder